Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the government to take stern action against officials in the Agriculture Department in the State who had allegedly siphoned off crores from the PM-KISAN scheme.
The scam rocked the State recently after it came to light that money under the scheme was credited to the account of fictitious farmers. The government ordered a CB-CID probe and is in the process of recovering the funds as genuine farmers have not received the PM-KISAN assistance.
Under the scheme, the Union government had proposed to give ₹6,000 to eligible farmers as an assistance and had directed the Agriculture department in the respective States to credit the sum in the beneficiaries account directly. Finding loopholes in the system, officials across the State had siphoned off the money.
In Dindigul district, out of 11,000 beneficiaries, 5,000 were not genuine farmers. So far ₹1.76 crore had been recovered and ₹ 24.32 lakh would be collected soon, officials have said.