TIRUVANNAMALAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday blamed the Centre’s eased guidelines on beneficiary registration for giving room to the irregularities in the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme scam.
Talking to reporters, after chairing a review meeting in Tiruvannamalai, he said, “The reason for this (irregularities) is Centre’s revised guidelines on beneficiary registration. It announced at the end of last year that farmers can enrol themselves using Aadhar or ration card. This has led to the problem.”
He pointed out that it was the State government that detected the financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 110 crore and ordered the probe by the CB-CID.
“The beneficiary registration rose to 46 lakh from 41 lakh in four months. This has led to doubts in the minds of the (Agriculture) department officials. They decided to probe it. Subsequently, we ordered a probe by CB-CID,” Palaniswami noted.
The CM said 5 lakh ineligible farmers were found to have been enrolled for the cash benefits under PM Kisan scheme and added that 18 persons were arrested, 81 contract staff were sacked and departmental action was taken against 34 officers.
“We will initiate legal action in accordance with the law against those involved in the irregularities,” Palaniswami asserted.
Referring to Leader of Opposition MK Stalin’s charges of hiding of facts about murders reported in the State, the Chief Minister accused him of ‘peddling lies.’
“The Leader of Opposition is blatantly peddling lies. He is releasing statements without fact-checking. We have nothing to hide on the number of murders that occurred in the State,” he said.
He also noted that as per a document tabled in the Assembly during the demand for grants to Home department during 2019-20, the number of murder for gain reported was 81 and figures for murders under grave crimes were 1,488. “So, the total number of murder was 1569. This proves what he said was nothing but blatant lie,” Palaniswami flayed.
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Earlier, he launched various developmental projects worth Rs 52.59 crore at a function held in the collectorate premises here. He also set in motion distribution of welfare assistance worth Rs 134.04 crore at the event, besides laying foundation stone for eleven new projects worth Rs. 19.2 crore.
Later, he chaired a meeting of top government officials of departments including PWD, Municipal Administration and Health to review progress of developmental projects, government schemes and Covid control measures in Tiruvannamalai district.
Palaniswami is also scheduled to have an interaction with representatives of industries, farmers and self-help groups.
District collector KS Kandasamy, MLAs ‘Dusi’ K Mohan (Cheyyar), V Panneerselvam (Kalasapakkam), Superintendent of Police S Aravind and Aavin district chairman ‘Agri’ SS Krishnamoorthy were also present at the events.