Raipur: Annapurna, age 213, daughter of Dharmendra, Mahatma Gandhi Nagar, Amaldih, Raipur (Chhattisgarh). The double centenarian is not only alive but also riding bicycle.
This may sound incredulous, but the ‘said woman’ finds place in the list of beneficiaries of Mukhyamantri Cycle Sahayata Yojana, being implemented by the Chhattisgarh government to provide free bicycles to women engaged in construction works in the state.
The beneficiary, most likely a fictitious one, received the free bicycle in 2013, according to information provided under the RTI Act.
“I was shocked to see the list of beneficiaries where not only one double centenarian, but also as many as 1,452 centenarians, all women, figured. While, the double centenarian’s address has been mentioned in the list, there was no mention of whereabouts of the centenarian beneficiaries in it”, RTI activist Sanjeev Agrawal said on Saturday.
“This speaks volumes on scale of corruptions in the scheme,” he added.
As per the information provided under RTI, all the centenarian beneficiaries are aged exactly 114 years. When contacted, an officer of state labour department, he said, “The matter is under investigation.”
A state government officer, said that earlier a private agency was hired by the government to procure bicycles at '6500 each. However, the practice was discontinued following reports of alleged widespread irregularities in procurement of the commodity.
