A massive fraud to the tune of Rs 110 crore from the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ has been unearthed in Tamil Nadu recently. Tamil Nadu CB-CID wing, which is investigating the matter, has so far arrested 18 people in relation to the fraud and investigation is now extended to 13 districts.
Rs 32 crore has also been recovered from the ineligible beneficiaries, according to the senior officials. It so happened that in some Tamil Nadu districts ineligible persons have availed the cash assistance with false information. The scam first came to light at Cuddalore district and a probe was ordered by the District Collector there.
Under the PM Kisan scheme, Rs 6,000 is deposited in three installments every year into the bank accounts of small farmers, who have agricultural land less than 2 hectares.
But, by misusing the login credentials of the agricultural department officials, several government officials and contract computer operators added ineligible beneficiaries to the scheme and siphoned off the money meant for farmers. CB-CID officials have frozen the bank accounts of several people who were enrolled under the scheme for investigation.
While addressing the media on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi stated that there was a sharp rise in the number of enrolment for the PM Kisan scheme in the first week of August and out of the 6 lakh new enrolments, 5 lakh have been identified and 10 teams have been formed by the agricultural department to probe about the fraud.
He further added, so far 3 assistant directors from the agriculture department have been suspended and 80 including computer operators, block managers and revenue department staff have been dismissed and a departmental inquiry has been ordered against 34 officials.
The Secretary clarified that till now Rs 32 Cr has been recovered from the ineligible beneficiaries.
As soon as the fraud in the PM Kisan scheme surfaced in the State, TN ministers quickly distanced themselves from the controversy stating that this fraud has happened only because of the central government making the procedure of enrolment lenient and the state government has already ordered CB-CID inquiry into the incident.
Principal opposition party has sought a CBI inquiry to probe the incident and the BJP State unit functionaries met district collectors of all the districts in the state and handed over a memorandum demanding a fair probe into the scam.