Lens on Jan Dhan a/cs in Rajarhat, New Town

KOLKATA: During the country-wide investigation into the misuse of bank accounts opened under the Centre’s Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, the income tax department has zeroed in on a large chunk of accounts opened at public sector bank branches in the Rajarhat and New Town areas. These accounts, which were lying either inactive or with minimal activity, have suddenly started showing huge deposits.
According to sources in the I-T department, they have started tracking the accounts under the scheme across Kolkata to find out possible misuses of such accounts.“Banks are now alerting the RBI even when Rs 1 lakh is deposited in an account which had minimal transactions before the demonetisation was announced. We have started sending notices to such persons in case there are inconsistencies. So far, we have found concentration of misused accounts in areas like Rajarhat and New Town,” said an I-T official on condition of anonymity. Apart from Kolkata, I-T officials have also scanned a large number of Jan Dhan accounts in Midnapore where they found unusual deposits.
While the total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts in the country as on November 16 have crossed Rs 64,000 crore, West Bengal has also witnessed a surge in Jan Dhan account deposits. In more than 2.44 crore Jan Dhan accounts in the state, deposits as on November 16 stodd at more than Rs 7,800 crore. While Uttar Pradesh leads the chart with more than Rs 10,000 crore deposit in 3.79 crore accounts, Bengal is second in the list. Fearing a misuse of Jan Dhan bank accounts, the RBI had set a temporary withdrawal limit of Rs 10,000 on Jan Dhan accounts on November 30.
Meanwhile, the Bengal circle of income tax department has started sending notices to religious institutions seeking details of their cash balance.