Residents welcome decision to review state’s beneficiary lists

The recent decision of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government to review the lists of persons availing benefits under Below Poverty Line (BPL), Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) and Antodaya schemes has been welcomed by residents of the state.

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Over the last 15 years, successive state governments failed to review beneficiaries of BPL, IRDP and Antodaya schemes, with many attributing their lack of action to “vote bank politics”.

This has reportedly resulted in huge losses to the state exchequer, depriving real beneficiaries of the benefits of the schemes.

Despite a number of complaints being lodged regarding discrepancies in the beneficiary lists of BPL, IRDP and Antodaya schemes, most panchayats in Kangra district have failed to delete the names of certain beneficiaries owing to the lack of an authority to supervise the selections being made by panchayats.

A Block Development Officer (BDO), while talking to The Tribune, admitted family members of certain well-off persons were availing the benefits of these schemes.

“In the past three years, the state government had received a number of complaints — along with evidence — regarding large-scale irregularities in the selection of families under the BPL, IRDP and Antodaya schemes. Hundreds of needy people have been deprived of the benefits under the government programmes,” he added.

He said, now, under new guidelines, the state government empowered BDOs and SDMs to review beneficiary lists made by the panchayats.

Earlier, these officers had no powers, causing frequent discrepancies in the selections. “As per the guidelines of the Government of India, a person having 2 hectares of non-irrigated and 1 hectare of irrigated land, a two-wheeler/four-wheeler and an annual income above Rs 30,000, cannot be included in the BPL and IRDP categories. There are many people who do not meet these conditions, but are availing the benefits of the government schemes,” said the Block Development Officer.

After The Tribune had highlighted the issue in these columns recently, the state government had directed the authorities to initiate action against fake BPL card holders and start the re-identification process from April this year.

In 2022, over 200 people in the state had voluntarily surrendered their BPL cards and deposited money in the state exchequer on account of illegal benefits availed by them.

However, the administration is yet to act in a majority of the cases. Many panchayats are not holding gram sabha meetings for revising the lists under the BPL, IRDP and Antyodaya categories. The names of beneficiaries are yet to be deleted as no steps have been initiated to re-identify fake BPL card holders in the last decade.

As per a baseline survey conducted by the government in various panchayats to re-identify and re-verify the fake card holders in 2018, it was revealed that 30-40 per cent of the lists were made up of ineligible families, who had managed to enter the lists because of their “influence”.