CHENNAI: A whopping Rs 110 crore fraud has been detected in the PM Kisan Nidhi Samman Yojana, said Agriculture Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi on Tuesday. The money has gone into the accounts of over five lakh fake beneficiaries across the State, during the past few months, he said, and of this, the government has so far recovered Rs 32 crore.
“A few scamsters have been caught and the investigation is going on. We are making efforts to recover the rest of the amount from the fake beneficiaries, in about a month and a half’s time, since all their bank account details are with us,” Bedi told reporters at a press conference here. He added, “No one can escape.
The government has zero tolerance towards those who misused the welfare scheme, and all those involved shall be brought to the book.” Bedi further said that the Central government in a letter recently, had appreciated the swift action taken by the State, while also adding that a sizeable amount paid to the fake beneficiaries had been recovered in a short span of time.
Three Assistant Directors have been placed under suspension, and disciplinary action has been initiated against 34 officials, so far, for their involvement in the scam. As many as 80 persons, including computer staff and others have also been dismissed. “We are waiting for further reports from the CB-CID. Action will be taken against all those involved,” he asserted.
On precautionary measures taken to avoid such irregularities in the future, Bedi said that all district-level passwords given to the scheme had been cancelled. “State-level passwords would be given to District Collectors after the inquiry is over.” Meanwhile, Bedi pointed out that the scheme had not been suspended, and that genuine farmers, who are beneficiaries of the scheme, would continue to get the assistance.
Meanwhile, authorities in Madurai have recovered Rs 7.06 lakh from as many as 6,000 ineligible accounts of farmers who were enrolled under the scheme. Of the total 16,474 beneficiaries enrolled in the district, nearly 11,000 have been identified as fake.
A committee headed by top officials have initiated the inquiry and would recover the amount from ineligible accounts in the next three days, said Collector TG Vinay. The investigation into the scam by the agriculture department and the CB-CID had revealed that the irregularities took place in 13 districts.