Despite checkmates at various levels to stop cheating of common people while providing benefits under different schemes, lure of money forced some panchayat-level officials to cheat an elderly couple in Baleswar district.
The couple belonging to Jahadapippal village under Baiganbadia gram panchayat in Jaleswar block alleged that the local GRS, PEO and some miscreants have cheated them in the name of allotting them a Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) house and have swindled the sanctioned money.
To their utter dismay, their personal documents were forged in the name of allotment of a PMAY house and even their signatures also forged putting as thumb impressions, account opened with these documents in bank and the sanctioned money to the tune of Rs 90,000 illegally withdrawn.
Not only these, they were even shown a fake house that has been geo-tagged to maintain the updated Government records.
“Only when a supervising officer came to inquire about the progress of construct work, we came to know about the cheating and fake allotment”, said Sankar Dandpat, one of the aggrieved couple.
The couple sat in a dharna in protest of the cheating case on Monday. After getting assurance from district officials, they withdrew their agitation.