Goat ‘scam’ detected in Saran

PATNA: Not a single goat was found at a government-funded farm when a team of senior officials led by the state’s development commissioner Subhash Sharma visited Kuraiya village under Amnaur block in Saran district recently to inspect the state government’s schemes. The farm has the capacity to accommodate 20 goats.
Sources said acting on chief secretary Deepak Kumar’s instruction, a team of senior officials led by Sharma visited Saran district on January 31 to conduct ground-level inspection of different schemes of the state government.
At Chhapra, the district animal husbandry officer (DAHO) informed the visiting team that altogether three goat farms (with 20 goats in each farm) have been opened in the district after selecting three beneficiaries under the goat farming scheme in financial year 2016-17.
The DAHO also informed the team that each beneficiary had been provided 20 goats at a cost of Rs 2 lakh. Of the total amount, Rs one lakh was provided to beneficiaries as loan while another Rs one lakh as subsidy from the state government’s exchequer.
When Sharma asked the DAHO to show at least one goat farm, the latter first tried to discourage the development commissioner from visiting the farm on the plea that it was located at a far-off village and going there was not possible in the late evening.
But when Sharma, who was accompanied by the Saran district magistrate and some other officers from the secretariat, insisted on inspecting at least one goat farm, the DAHO took the team to Kuraiya village to show the farm owned by one Sudhir Kumar Singh. When the visiting team reached the farm around 6 pm, there was no trace of any goat there.
“The goat farm was closed. No goat was found there. There was no evidence to suggest that goats were kept there at least for the last 8 to 10 months. It is almost clear that amount sanctioned under the scheme has been embezzled by selecting a wrong beneficiary,” Sharma said in a report sent to the chief secretary and the secretary of the animal and fisheries resources department (AFRD).
Sources said Sharma has asked the Saran DM to lodge an FIR against the goat farm owner and the officers involved in allotting him Rs 2 lakh. Sharma has also asked the AFRD secretary to conduct an inquiry as to how such fake beneficiaries were being selected and take disciplinary action against the responsible officers.