One of the oldest welfare schemes introduced by the BJP-led government in 2003 was aimed to ensure that the vulnerable sections were not trapped in severe poverty. But the very same Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS) finds itself in financial quicksand, as suspected misuse of the benefit by sizeable beneficiary population surfaces every now and then and the lack of proper mechanism to identify unscrupulous beneficiaries has turned out to be a major stumbling block. The flagship scheme has a history of being misused by some beneficiaries even though the government has set up fruitless number of surveys and inquiries over the years. Despite identifying and penalising bogus beneficiaries in the past, the alleged illegality continues to thrive, considering that in the present scenario 127 government servants – those in the disabled and single women category – are issued show cause notices for availing the benefit though they are not entitled.
As of date, a total of 1,43,906 are registered with the Social Welfare Department to avail the financial benefit ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,500, costing the government exchequer a whopping deficit of approximately Rs 20.03 crore that is spent on a monthly-basis to beneficiaries.
Herald got in touch with some senior bureaucrats to inquire about its intricacies and a stoic reply was “lack of proper mechanism” to identify the genuine from bogus beneficiaries.
“There have been instances of fake beneficiaries and we act based on survey reports or complaints to the implementing agency. The field officers conduct inquiry and issue show-cause notices for recovery with eight per cent interest… However, there could still be many who are availing the benefit by producing fake documents, etc. But there is no proper mechanism in place to identify such cases,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
In 2004, government commissioned a survey which was conducted by a Pune-based agency and its report indicated that around 30 per cent of the 40,000-odd beneficiaries were found to be fake.
The then Social Welfare Minister Ramarao Desai had quoted the survey revealing that out of the 40,818 beneficiaries surveyed, 881 cases were found to be bogus while some submitted falsified income statements, in other cases both the spouses claimed benefits and 4,584 cases were doubtful.
Around 866 beneficiaries were not traceable though their bank accounts existed and the monthly pension would get credited, whereas 1,631 persons expired during the implementation of the scheme and addresses provided by another 3,877 beneficiaries did not exist.
