Odisha women SHG members eat up central grants for rearing cows, arrested

Bhubaneswar, Sep 3 (UNI) The Odisha Vigilance today arrested eight women, all members of  self-help groups in Jagatsinghpur district, on the charge of misappropriating the central assistance provided to them to rear milking cows to generate income for their families.

The accused women SHG members, natives of Kuruki village under Naugaon police station jurisdiction in Jagatsinghpur district, were arrested by the officers of Odisha Vigilance for defalcation and fraud of Government funds sanctioned in favour of them under “SGSY” (Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana) Scheme for purchase of milching cows, said vigilance officials.

The SGSY is a rural self-employment program that provides assistance to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families to establish income-generating assets, including milching cows.
The scheme envisages providing a sustainable income to the rural poor through self-employment
and integrates the organisation of beneficiaries into SHGs, coupled with training, credit, technology, infrastructure and marketing support to uplift the families above the poverty line.

However, the accused persons, beneficiaries of a self-help group, did not purchase the cows, and thereby embezzled the Govt. funds. After misappropriation was detected, all accused persons were on the run since the last one and half years to evade arrest.

However, a special team of Odisha Vigilance nabbed them today and produced before the Court of Special Judge Vigilance, Cuttack, said officials. They were booked under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code provisions.
Besides the arrested persons, the other two accused persons charged in the case included a Government servant Kunja Bihari Swain, the then village agriculture worker and Ranjit Kumar Behera, approved supplier of cows to the beneficiaries, they concluded.