Cluster officers asked to visit fields to verify farmers’ claims

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 17

The district administration is facing a Herculean task in identifying the genuine beneficiaries to give Rs2,500 per acre compensation to the farmers who have desisted from burning paddy straw.

Four days ago, the state government had announced to provide Rs2,500 per acre as compensation to small and marginal farmers who have not set the paddy stubble on fire.

Since then, the administration has received over 2,900 applications from the farmers in Faridkot district. In the undertakings, all these farmers have claimed themselves as small and marginal farmers who have not burnt paddy stubble this time. They also promised not to burn the stubble in future.

After the verification by the sarpanches and the Panchayat Secretary, the administration has given nod to the claims of 586 farmers in Faridkot. The details of these farmers with their Aadhaar cards have been uploaded on the portal of the state government. Many of them have received the payment in their bank accounts.

However, two days ago after many “dubious” and “fake” entries were uploaded on the portal in Sangrur and Fazilka district, it raised the alarm as the compensation amount was transferred in the bank accounts of farmers who are landlords and had burnt the stubble in their field.

After getting a clue of the “scam” which was reported with the connivance of some data entry operators, the state government kept the portal suspended for two days for the purpose. It resumed on Sunday with extra cautions.

In Faridkot, though no fake case has been detected among those uploaded their claims on the portal, taking precautionary measures, the Deputy Commissioner has asked all field staff to ensure that no fake claimant get the benefit.

Besides relying on patwaris, Panchayat Secretary and sarpanches for the verification of the farmers’ claim, the DC has directed the cluster officers to visit the field of every claimant to ensure that he or she had desisted from stubble burning.

“We don’t want to rely on the verification done by the sarpanches for their political affiliations and the credentials of many Panchayat Secretaries are also doubtful on this front. So, the cluster officers have been given the responsibility to personally verify the claim,” said a senior official of the district administration.