127 govt officers sent notices for being illegal beneficiaries, pensioners with high income and pvt sector employees in suspect list, Rs 20 cr recovered from those availing double benefits
Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government has begun the process to identify unscrupulous beneficiaries of the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS) suspecting that around 25,000 of the 1.43-odd lakh persons are cheating the exchequer.
“The department has started some process to identify such cases. We are strictly scrutinising all the cases,” Social Welfare Minister Pandurang Madkaikar told Herald conceding that some lacunae in the implementation resulted in the scheme’s misuse.
Herald in its Sunday edition had reported that the welfare scheme introduced
by the BJP-led government in 2002 – with an aim to ensure the vulnerable sections are not trapped in severe poverty – is allegedly being misused by a sizeable number of beneficiaries.
The Social Welfare Department recently issued show cause notices to 127 government servants for availing the benefit though they are not entitled to it. Not only those in government service and pensioners whose annual income is higher than the prescribed limit, but some in the private sector too fall in this category.
Madkaikar, in his response assured to take action with the survey in full swing. “We are serious about these schemes (referring to all the welfare schemes). The Chief Minister had recently instructed all the departments (for similar inquiries) so that government can take action and discontinue giving doles to ineligible persons,” he added.
“Surprisingly, the number of DSS beneficiaries are increasing rather than reducing. This definitely raises suspicion that there are some illegal recipients of the scheme. We suspect that around 25,000 beneficiaries are ineligible but still availing the funds. Our survey will reveal,” he said.
It is learnt that the government had recovered Rs 20 crore from individuals whose families were enjoying two schemes at a time. The minister also warned to take action against banks that fail to inform the government about bank accounts into which the amount is deposited remain unused for about 3-6 months.
“The government credits the monthly allowance into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries but some are not in use for many months. The banks too fail to inform us if there are any such cases. If an account is not used for 3-6 months, the bank should remit the money to us. Government will take action against such banks,” he stated.
In 2004, the government commissioned a survey which was conducted by a Pune based agency and its report indicated that around 30 percent of the 40,000-odd beneficiaries were found to be fake.
In 2012, Herald had exposed that over a dozen government officials were detected by Planning and Statistics officials of availing the Rs 1000 monthly benefit while being in service. A crackdown by the government fetched 35 more people approaching them confessing about the violation and the benefits were immediately discontinued to them. The recovery process began with 8 percent interest.
