Close on the heels of the scam related to allotment of numbers to illegal buildings using the user IDs and passwords of various revenue officials in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, an internal investigation conducted by the civic body has unearthed another fraud in which funds meant for the Scheduled Caste (SC) for starting new industrial ventures were diverted after forging fake community documents.
Addressing a press meet, City Corporation Mayor Arya Rajendran said on Tuesday the Industries department has a scheme to provide ₹3 lakh each to 33 SC groups – with each group having five SC persons – for starting new industrial ventures. The probe conducted by the civic body has unearthed fraud in the documentation of 17 out of the total 33 groups. Many of the members of these groups were not from Scheduled Caste communities and the names of some of those members were duplicated in other groups after forging fake community certificates to avail of the benefits.
Further, ₹1.26 crore meant for the groups was remitted to a single account number in the Pattom Cooperative Bank. The Corporation has now approached the Museum police seeking a detailed investigation into the fraud. The officer who vetted the documents and processed the applications was transferred from here some time ago. So a detailed investigation can ascertain whether any officials were involved in the scam and the role of bank officials would be probed, said Ms. Rajendran.
According to a preliminary analysis, it is not possible to commit such a fraud without the knowledge of officials. Already, vigilance sleuths have begun an investigation into the earlier scam of diverting Central funds meant for the development of the Scheduled Caste. This case would also be investigated by clubbing with the previous case, said the Mayor.
The Corporation will launch a campaign titled ‘Corporation to the People’ to address the grievances of the public regarding the services of the Corporation. The initiative, which begins on August 3 at the zonal level in the first phase and then at the ward level, will address complaints regarding the services of the Corporation, said Ms. Rajendran.
