Patna/Bhagalpur, Sept. 8: The ongoing investigation into the Srijan fund transfer scam is taking a toll on several development and welfare works in Bhagalpur.

Officials of the district welfare department, land acquisition department, urban development department besides other related departments are engaged in audit of their accounts with different banks to ascertain the actual amount that had been embezzled by the well-oiled syndicate.

Puniya Devi, a resident of Pirpainty in Bhagalpur district, has been running from pillar to post to get her old-age pension. 'I have been visiting the office of the block development officer for the past one month. The officials have expressed helplessness as investigation in the scam is under way,' she said.

Though her health doesn't allow her to travel 95km from her village to the Bhagalpur district headquarters, she wants to go there to narrate her woes. 'I have no option,' she said.

Sarita Paswan of Kahalgaon had lodged her complaint with the district public grievance redress cell for non-payment of land-acquisition compensation. 'The officer concerned is not visiting the office for the past one-and-half months. Nobody is there to take notice of the complaints,' she said.

Altogether 18 persons, including officials of the district welfare department, land acquisition office and other district officers, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the Rs 1,000-crore scam. One of them, Mahesh Mandal, nazir (accountant) in the district welfare office, died in judicial custody.

Employees of different departments are on tenterhooks due to the CBI investigation.

'The CBI officials often visit the office and ask for files, so we have to be prepared to reply to their queries,' said an official posted at the Bhagalpur collectorate.

Several officials have been given additional charge. For instance, district panchayati raj department officer Apurva Kumar Madhukar has been given additional charge of district welfare department. Similarly, Niranjan Jha, who was posted at Kahalgaon, has been assigned to look after public grievance redress.

An official said: 'I have to look after 60 cases on a daily basis. The work related to Kahalgaon sub-division has added to the woes. I have to sit for three days in Bhagalpur and three days in Kahalgaon to cope with the situation.'

The public grievance redress officer, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, has been on the run ever since his name figured in the scam. A senior additional district magistrate, Harishankar Prasad, has been asked to assist the investigating team.

Today, the CBI officials quizzed J.J. Upadhayay and D.N. Pathak, incumbent manager and former manager of Punjab National Bank respectively. The CBI officials wanted to know as why the district administration's accounts with the bank were closed and on whose orders.

Sources said the managers told the interrogators that the accounts with the Barari branch of the bank were opened under the district urban development agency scheme. They revealed the name of the then district magistrate and the district welfare officer who had allegedly ordered the closure of the accounts.

The CBI sleuths also quizzed civil surgeon Vijay Kumar.

Investigations by the team from the accountant general office in Patna has revealed that the Bhagalpur district administration had 11 accounts with Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti. The NGO, on the other hand, had opened 30 accounts with different banks.