The Crime Branch CID has arrested 7 contract employees associated with the Department of Agriculture for alleged irregularities in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu.
The arrested identified as Pushparaj, Palani Kumar, Venkatesan, Prakash, Balakrishnan and Pari, Mayavan were employed as contract employees of the Department in Gingee block. They were produced before a local court & remanded in custody.
According to Police sources, the seven had allegedly added ineligible beneficiaries as well as non-farmers under PM-Kisan scheme.
In addition, the Agriculture Department has identified over 90,000 ineligible beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan scheme and also recovered Rs. 7.5 crore so far.
On condition of anonymity, a senior official told that out of the 90,000 ineligible PM-Kisan beneficiaries, over 38,000 were from Villupuram district and 60,000 were from other districts of Tamil Nadu.
The official added that further recoveries are in progress and the total cash subsidy transferred into the bank accounts of ineligible beneficiaries will be recovered in the next ten days.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana was launched with the aim to give financial assistance to the small and marginal farmers in India. Central government gives Rs. 6,000 per year in three instalments to farmers who have up to 2 hectares of cultivable land.
