Team Herald
CALANGUTE: A large number of beneficiaries of the Calangute Village Panchayat’s monthly dole to the poor have been found to be fake, the gram sabha of the panchayat was told on Sunday.
“We made a study and there were instances where the husband and wife and also their two children were named as beneficiaries and we have cut their names from the list,” Panchayat Secretary Arjun Velip said.
“I was shocked to see that well-to-do people with resorts were taking Rs 700 in monthly dole which we give to the poor,” Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said.
“We found that in many families there were four-five persons each receiving the amount, so we rectified that and now only one person gets the amount,” the sarpanch said, adding that they identified a large number of such beneficiaries and also those who were actually in no need of any assistance.
The gram sabha which met to discuss the budget for 2023-24 approved the proposals amounting to Rs 25,19,50,199. The income is projected at Rs 17,27,82,550, and expenditure at Rs 15,38,20,550.
Many of the budget provisions are lower than in the previous budget as the pending bills have been reduced, Sarpanch Sequeira said.
The panchayat has increased the trade licence fee for rooms in resorts from Rs 2,500 per room to Rs 3,000 to generate more income, while the ‘sopo’ amount for the market has been increased to Rs 15 lakh, from around Rs one lakh earlier, he said.
The panchayat has also cracked down on various government departments which are operating from panchayat properties who had not paid the rent amount in a long time, and has collected the pending dues.
