VELLORE: Stepping up the process to recover the financial succour illegally availed by ineligible farmers under the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the authorities in Vellore district have recovered Rs 1.3 crore so far from 2,685 beneficiaries.
“Thanks to the swift action initiated by the district administration, Rs 1.3 crore has been recovered from 2,685 ineligible farmers. The action for recovery is still going on,” said district collector A Shanmuga Sundaram.
An amount of Rs 19.6 lakh is yet to be recovered, he said, adding that officials of revenue and agriculture departments were visiting the places of the ineligible farmers who had availed the funds to persuade them to return the cash.
The collector warned that criminal action would be initiated against farmers who failed to return the financial assistance illegally availed under the scheme.
“Criminal action as per the law will be initiated through the police if the ineligible farmers fail to return the money availed under the PM Kisan scheme,” Shanmuga Sundaram said on Saturday.
If they wanted to escape facing criminal action, they should deposit the amount in their bank accounts immediately so that the authorities could recover it, he noted.
When the authorities of revenue, agriculture and horticulture departments held an audit of the beneficiaries, it was found that 3,864 ineligible farmers had availed the scheme's benefits through fraudulent means. Of them, 339 belonged to other states.
The total amount involved in the fraud is Rs 1.35 crore.
The collector informed that steps were taken to recover the money from the ineligible persons belonging to other states.
“We have written to the concerned district collectors and nodal officers of other states regarding recovery,” he stated.