PM Kisan scam in Tamil Nadu: Stalin seeks CBI probe, says CM is ‘diverting attention’

CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday asked chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to seek a CBI probe to bring to book the culprits involved in the Rs 110 crore PM Kisan scam, instead of diverting attention by giving possible reasons on why and how it could have happened.
Around six lakh people, including 10,000 people from CM’s own district, seem to have unduly benefited and swindled money meant for farmers, Stalin said in a statement.
After the issue came to light, state agriculture secretary had told the media and revealed that the number of beneficiaries, which was 39 lakh at the end of March, 2020, had gone up to 45 lakh by end of August. The chief minister himself contradicted that number later by saying that the number of beneficiaries had increased to 46 lakh from 41 lakh four months ago.
“The CM also seem to indicate that the AIADMK government had no role in the registration of farmers under the PM Kisan scheme and that self-registration process permitted by the Centre had resulted in such a scam. Through the government order in February, 2019, the state government appointed the commission for revenue administration (CRA), an official in the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, as the state-level coordinator and the agriculture commissioner as the nodal officer for carrying out the required checks on registered farmers. The department had to depute its team to visit in person to check the status of 5% farmers,” he said.
“When such is the system that entails a role for the state government, the chief minister cannot simply divert attention by feigning ignorance about the way the whole scheme was being implemented,” Stalin said.