Deputy commissioners have been tasked with recovering the money from ineligible persons, mostly government employees.
Faced with multiple reports about several crores fraudulently credited to the bank accounts of thousands of ineligible farmers under Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to recover the money and question the beneficiaries for illegally availing the financial succour. A few of these have got four to five instalments.
The scheme provided for a direct cash benefit of over Rs 75,000 crore to more than 9.9 crore farmers in the country to enable them to fulfil their agricultural requirements and support their families. The eligible farmers are supposed to get Rs 6,000 per year in three instalments deposited directly to their bank accounts.
In the state’s biggest district –Kangra – more than Rs 2.5 crore have gone to ineligible farmers, government employees and retired personnel from the state and central governments. There are also close relatives of former MPs and former MLAs identified by the Income Tax department in the scam, which has started unfolding in more districts.
More than 2,500 such government employees and pensioners have already been identified and served notices asking them to return the money. Nurpur sub-division of Kangra has the highest number of such ineligible beneficiaries.
Himachal chief secretary Anil Khachi said the process has been initiated to get the money back from the ineligible persons. Notices will also be served to ask why they did not voluntarily return the money credited to their accounts.
“We have asked the deputy commissioners to identify every ineligible person. Many happen to be government employees and officers and they should be asked why they availed the benefits meant as succour to those falling within the purview of the scheme,” he told Outlook.
The senior officials admitted that they did not have exact data of eligible farmers. The money was transferred to the bank accounts of the farmers in a hush-hush manner as mainly this was a political agenda.
Among the districts where the discrepancies have come to light also Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s home district –Mandi where nearly Rs 2 crore has gone to ineligible persons.
“The DCs have been asked to send the report to the government on the entire matter with details as to how much money has been recovered so far. The eligible persons if not covered so far, should be included in the list,” said the chief secretary.
When contacted, Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said, “The exercise to get the money back from the ineligible persons is underway. Some people have also returned already.”
“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,” said another deputy commissioner.
Not wishing to be named he claimed that many states have also reported similar situations as during the launch of the scheme there was a simple process of “self-registration”. Not many details were asked by the farmers. This created an unavoidable situation which allowed ineligible persons to take advantage.
"Now it's an unpleasant situation,” a BJP MLA admitted.
Beside Kangra, three other districts, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi have also reported similar fraudulent cases under the PM Kisan scheme started by the central government in 2018 with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls.
Former Congress minister G.S. Bali said, “It is the biggest fraud committed on the farmers of the country, and also Himachal Pradesh, in the name of financial succour. They deposited the money to the accounts of the farmers directly and framed the norms afterwards as who is eligible. How can the farmers be made accountable for the money reaching their accounts?” he asked. “The objective was to hoodwink the villagers/farmers and get votes to win the Lok Sabha polls,” he added.