Around ₹130 crore has been recovered from ineligible beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) — an income support scheme of the Central government for farmers — in the State.
The amount recovered is equivalent to nearly 70% of the estimated overall amount that has been given to the ineligible persons, said an official of the Agriculture Department, adding that the remaining amount will be recovered in a “phased manner”.
A few months ago, the authorities had found out that several lakhs of ineligible persons, mainly in the northern districts, had been enrolled as beneficiaries of the scheme, and crores of rupees credited to their bank accounts.
Though authorities allow the registration of prospective beneficiaries as per the Centre’s SoP, they take steps to verify their details, at two levels. In the districts concerned, officials of the Revenue and Agriculture departments carry out field verifications. On getting reports of District Collectors, an exclusive cell — the PM Kisan cell — headed by a deputy director of the department in Chennai, scrutinises land records and ration cards of the applicants online. Till now, nearly 10,000 farmers have applied for inclusion to the scheme.
As for the status of crop coverage, food grains like paddy, millets and pulses are being raised across 23.7 lakh hectares — nearly 50,000 hectares more than the previous year’s coverage. Of the total area, approximately 13 lakh hectares are covered with paddy; 7.6 lakh ha millets and 3 lakh ha pulses. Making use of the cultivation seasons — samba and thaladi — the Cauvery delta is raising paddy over 5 lakh ha. The figure is expected to go up in the coming weeks, the official said.
In view of sufficient water available in the Mettur dam, with a storage of about 60 thousand million cubic feet, farmers in the delta will not face any problems, sustaining their crops. But those who have raised millets and pulses in the southern districts and areas such as Ariyalur and Perambalur are eagerly awaiting rainfall, the official added.
