PM Kisan Yojana: The Agriculture Department in Assam told the Gauhati High Court that more than 11 lakh ineligible people have fraudulently received the benefits of PM Kisan scheme, one of the most successful schemes launched by the Central Government.
The information regarding ineligible beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana was given recently in an additional affidavit submitted before the high court by Gunajeet Kashyap, the Joint Secretary of the Agriculture Department, in connection with a Public Interest Litigation (No. 73/2020) that was filed by Amguri Naba Nirman Samity.
The affidavit mentioned that the level of the scam was brought to light in the year 2020 by the one-man inquiry led by Jishnu Baruah, the then Additional Chief Secretary. The affidavit said, "Subsequent thereto, the process of recovery started & district officials issued notices to such persons individually & also published notices in newspapers asking them to repay the money received. As of now, Rs 1.5 crore (approx) has been recovered."
As per the affidavit, on 7 June 2021, the newly-elected CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had ordered that third-party verification be done to recognize ineligible beneficiaries. On 12 August, Assam Government issued a Notification relaxing the land policy "which would make many genuine farmers eligible. Now, the verification process is going on."
The affidavit further said that so far, the Agriculture Department has suspended the District Agriculture Officer of Morigaon Saroj Kalita & District Agriculture Officer of Barpeta Krishna Pathak. 2 data entry operators of the Morigaon & Dhubri districts have been dismissed from service. The affidavit added that show-cause notices were served upon 16 district agriculture officers along with 98 agricultural development officers and all agricultural extension assistants of Barpeta district.
The replies of 50 officers were received while 38 cases will be put before the State Enquiry Officer because of unsatisfactory replies, according to the affidavit. It said that an FIR was lodged by the district agriculture officer of Bongaigaon and 2 persons were arrested from Darrang district for falsely adding the names of 734 beneficiaries to the PM Kisan website.
The hearing of the case will resume on 7th February.
