As many as 30 lakh ineligible people could be among around 2.21 crore women who receive monthly financial grants under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said at Nabanna on Wednesday.
"Initially, we planned to verify the list of Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries and start paying money to the women under the Annapurna Yojana. But we have received complaints that the names of lakhs of ineligible women were included in the list of beneficiaries. Preliminarily, it appears that the figure could be around 30 lakh. The actual figure would become clear once the filled-in forms are returned,” the chief minister said while launching the application forms for the Annapurna Yojana.
Suvendu said the government had received complaints that absent, shifted, deceased and duplicate electors, whose names had been permanently deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR and did not appeal before the tribunals or under the CAA, were availing of the benefits of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Moreover, the list included lakhs of fictitious, non-existent, non-Indians and ineligible beneficiaries.
'This happened because of a lack of interest or effort to verify the applicants. We had to launch the forms so that we get a clean and error-free list of beneficiaries,” said the chief minister, adding that the form would be an elaborate one to get the details of the family of the beneficiaries so that more benefits under several other government schemes could be extended to the families.
Sources in the administration said that a door-to-door survey began a few days ago to verify the beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar. The survey's initial findings that the scheme had lakhs of ineligible beneficiaries forced the government to launch a form and ask the beneficiaries to fill it in with personal and family details.
Suvendu made it clear that those whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR but appealed before the tribunals or applied to get citizenship under the CAA would continue to receive the financial grants. Also, until all eligible beneficiaries are transferred to the Annapurna Yojana, the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme would continue.
Sources have said that if 30 lakh ineligible beneficiaries are excluded from the new scheme, a total of ₹90 crore would be saved per month. This means the state would be able to save about ₹1,080 crore every year.
Suvendu said that the beneficiaries could fill in the 12-page forms both online and offline. The BDO office, the gram panchayat officials and the civic officials would help the beneficiaries fill in the forms. For those who cannot collect forms from the BDO offices or fill them out online, a month-long door-to-door service will be launched. Employees of panchayats and civic bodies would reach houses to get the forms filled.
The process of filling in the forms and submitting them to the authorities would continue for three months.
In the form, the beneficiaries would have to fill in the details of Aadhaar, ration card, properties like car, land and the house, and say whether any member of the family has a government job.
A section of the officials said collecting those details was significant as they could be used to disqualify beneficiaries if new criteria were introduced in the future.
“Right now, all women aged between 25 and 60 years and those who don't do government jobs or pay income tax would get the benefits. But in the future, the government can restrict the scheme only to the financially weaker sections. In that case, data provided by the beneficiaries could be used,” said an official.