‘Ghost’ beneficiaries: State Social Welfare Minister at loggerheads with Bureaucrat

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Aug 29: Existence of alleged lakhs of ghost children and women beneficiaries in State Social Welfare department has snowballed into a major issue of confrontation between a minister and a senior bureaucrat in Dispur.

The situation has reached such a pass that Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma wrote to Chief Secretary T.Y. Das to take action senior against IAS officer S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram for breaking discipline by sending data of the State Social Welfare department to the Centre by keeping the concerned minister completely in dark.

Sundaram who was the director of Social Welfare department till recently, wrote to the Centre highlighting over 14 lakh children “ghost” beneficiaries in the various Anganwadi centres (AWC).

The revelation triggered a controversy after Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi cited the 14-lakh figure during a high-level meeting held in New Delhi last week to review status of execution of various schemes of her department and directed other States to remove the non-existing names from the list of some 10 crore beneficiaries in AWCs.

Brahma on Wednesday said she was completely in dark about the letter and said the particular bureaucrat did not discuss with none of the top brass of Social Welfare department before sending the letter to the Centre. Without mentioning the name of Sundaram the minister told reporters that she is offended by the bureaucrat’s act and wrote to the Chief Secretary to take stern actions against him for violating official discipline and decorum. The Additional Chief Secretary of Social Welfare department Jishnu Barua was also not consulted about the letter, Brahma said, adding that she has asked the present Director of Social Welfare to find out sources of contents of the controversial letter. Sundaram has been transferred from the social welfare department recently.

Following instruction from the Chief Minister, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption wing of Assam Police is carrying out an investigation into the issue of ghost children in the AWCs across the State.