Nagaland: CAG report says Rs 2.36 cr paid to dead, ineligible beneficiaries under PM-KISAN scheme

The CAG during its performance audit found that there were names of 43 deceased persons out the total 2053 ineligible beneficiaries

Startling facts have come to fore. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report regarding implementing of the Centre sponsored Pradhan Mantri-Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) in Nagaland has revealed that Rs 2.36 crore was given to dead persons and ineligible individuals under the scheme.
Over Rs 2 crore was paid to 2,053 ineligible beneficiaries which includes names of 43 dead persons.

As per the performance audit by CAG covers the period from December 2018 to March 31, 2022. The list of ineligible beneficiaries included 662 in-service and 82 retired government employees. Due to this, an amount of Rs 1.05 crore was paid upto September 2021 to 742 (662+82/2 did not receive any instalment) ineligible beneficiaries.

“Instance of payment to 43 deceased beneficiaries were also noticed,” the CAG report mentioned.
“Further analysis revealed that 132 instalments of Rs.2.64 lakh were credited to bank accounts of 43 beneficiaries even after their deaths,” the CAG noted.

The CAG also pointed out that beneficiary lists were prepared without any checks in the system and ownership of cultivable land belonging to beneficiaries were not verified by concerned administrative officers but countersigned by the deputy commissioners.

“The beneficiaries were not correlated with the Nagaland’s Agriculture Census 2015-16 as the names of operational holders/farmers were not available on records. No landholding records were maintained at the village level and documents to cross verify the land-ownership of PM-KISAN beneficiaries was also not available with the government,” the report stated.

The CAG has recommended the state government to conduct state-wide verification of beneficiaries by involving banks and village councils to weed out ineligible beneficiaries. The CAG in its report underscored the need to take steps to recover the amounts unduly credited to accounts of such beneficiaries.

The CAG further recommended that the state government strengthens the grievance redressal mechanism and social audit be conducted periodically to ensure transparency.

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