Balrampur, UP: A massive scam worth nearly Rs 11 crore in the mid-day meal scheme has been uncovered in Balrampur district, Uttar Pradesh, resulting in an FIR against 45 individuals and the arrest of five people, including a village head and an assistant teacher.
The fraud was reported by the district Basic Siksha Adhikari to the city police station, according to Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar. The scam involved tampering with Excel sheets on the department’s IVRS portal, which tracks student enrollments in schools.
Government funds for the mid-day meal program are allocated based on these enrollment numbers. After district magistrate approval, the original Excel sheet should be uploaded for direct transfer to school accounts.
Instead, the accused allegedly inflated amounts for select schools and reduced allocations for others, keeping the total fund amount unchanged to avoid detection. The extra funds were then withdrawn and shared among headmasters, village heads, and school management committee presidents involved in the scheme.
Those arrested include Firoz Ahmad, Ashok Kumar (headmaster), Naseem Ahmad (village head), Mohammad Ahmedul Qadri (committee president), and Malik Munawwar (assistant teacher). Police confirmed that further investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are likely.
