A scam of more than Rs2.5 crore has been busted in the selections of beneficiaries in Pradhan Mantri Kisan Saman Nidhi’ Yojana.
Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 2,000 per month is directly credited into the bank accounts of farmers. Information gathered by the tribune news agency revealed that over Rs 2.5 crore were fraudulently credited in the accounts of non-deserving people who were never involved in farming activities and remotely connected with agricultural operations. Most of them are government servants, pensioners and businessmen.
In Kangra district, over 2,500 such persons have wrongly availed the benefit of the scheme. Sources said while making the selection of beneficiaries at the ground level, wrong bio-data of such persons were uploaded on the site and they have siphoned off over Rs 2.5 crore from the state exchequer in the past one-and-a-half year. The ‘undeserving’ persons in connivance with panchayat representatives and agriculture officials have managed their entry into the scheme.
The Kangra district administration has already identified persons in whose accounts the funds were fraudulently credited. The administration has already started the recovery proceedings against 2,500 persons and summons are being sent to them.
A senior official said when the government machinery was busy grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic; miscreants and middlemen were busy stuffing the scheme’s beneficiary list with ‘ineligible farmers’ with the intent to siphon off funds from the scheme. The rising number of registration in this scheme month after month has already alerted the officials concerned.
However, the case has neither been handed over to the police nor vigilance agencies. The main focus of the district authorities is on the recovery of funds from wrong beneficiaries.
Who is entitled to benefit of this Scheme?
- Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 2,000 per month is directly credited into the bank accounts of farmers.
- Any persons having income above Rs 10,000 cannot avail the benefit.
- Pensioners, government employees, MLAs, MPs and other income taxpayers are not entitled to enroll themselves in the scheme.
