A sum of ₹3.36 crore credited to the bank accounts of 9,891 ineligible beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan scheme had been recovered in Madurai district as on Thursday, said Joint Director of Agriculture T. Vivekanandan.
He said 12,887 beneficiaries in the district had been identified as ineligible to receive the benefit. Under the PM-KISAN scheme, eligible farmers get ₹6,000 per annum in three equal instalments, which is credited to their bank accounts. But, in 13 districts of the State, money had been fraudulently credited to the bank accounts of ineligible persons.
Officials of agriculture, police and revenue were at work in all the blocks to identify ineligible accounts and recover money credited to them, said Mr. Vivekanandan.
The list of ineligible persons also include those working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, government servants and non-farmers. “During the recovery process, it was discovered that many beneficiaries have withdrawn the money from their bank accounts and have spent it. But we are insisting them to pay back the money credited to their accounts,” he said.
Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department had arrested two persons in connection with the fraud in PM-KISAN scheme in Madurai.
