WB: Fishers Duped of Hundreds of Crores of Subsidy Money in a Major Scam

Kolkata: "I have been duped of several lakhs of rupees by the state government as after producing a Rs 10 lakh cheque (given by chief minister Mamata Banerjee), the government gave me only Rs 2 lakh, and the subsidy amount was also not paid. The unscrupulous ruling party people have eaten away the money allotted for me under the fisherman beneficiary scheme. We now have huge loans in our names as the promised subsidies have not been given," said Gopal Sahu, owner of three fishing boats. 

Sahu is among the hundreds of fishers of East Medinipur district who have been duped under the Behundi scheme, a joint venture of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and the West Bengal Fishermen (Benfish) Cooperative Federation. 

Benfish was in charge of disbursing loans to marine fishing cooperatives (MFCS) of the state, especially in the coastal districts. Loans were given notionally, and after providing the loans, instant refunds were made, and the subsidy amount was disbursed, contrary to the rules and regulations of NCDC. 

The corruption includes disbursing only the NCDC scheme's subsidy amount or assistance component. The scam consists of using the Traditional marine fish production (Behundi) phase 3 without disbursing the scheme's loan component to divide the subsidy money amongst unscrupulous government officers and office bearers of primary MFCS. Here only a portion of the subsidy amount is given to the original applicant fishers.

NCDS is not only the sponsoring authority of the said scheme. However, it is responsible for its effective implementation and monitoring to ensure no siphoning of funds has occurred; yet, despite knowing how the scheme money is being siphoned off, NCDC has failed to take any action. 

No boats were constructed under the scheme, and the entire scheme of assisting in lieu of building boats for fishers went up to ashes.

Hemanta Bar, an owner of a boat, complained of not having received the loan amount or the proposed subsidy amount. He said he was bypassed completely. 

"In 2019, an official of the Dadanpatrabar Marine cooperative handed me Rs 20,000. Later, I learned that the cooperative did not take the NCDC loan but only the subsidy amount."

Bar believes that influential authorities of the marine cooperative, who are aligned with the ruling party, usurped the money meant for poor fishers. 

When contacted, NCDC informed NewsClick that there are no schemes to bifurcate the loan and subsidy amounts into two parts. The one with the loan must clear it to avail subsidy. However, as per Bar, the deal occurred notionally, and a large amount of money went to the coffers of the ruling party people. 

NewsClick also spoke with Debasish Shyamal, President of the Dakshinbanga Matsyajibi Forum, a union of small and medium fishers of the state, who said there had been unprecedented corruption in the case. 

"A huge amount of money (several hundred crores) has been siphoned up in this matter."

The forum files a case in Kolkata high court. As per Abhishek Sikdar, the pleading advocate in the case, this is a money laundering issue. 

"Once the case is up for hearing, we expect positive results in the high court." 

Affidavit exchanges between the Union of India and the petitioners have already happened, he added.

It can be recalled that the DMF had earlier even given letters to all quarters, including CBI, concerned ministers of the state and the Central government, to start a probe over this matter, but to no avail. 

"We had to knock on the doors of the court. In this case, the culprits are roaming scot-free after usurping huge amounts of money meant for fishers," Shyamal told NewsClick.