Rich on BPL list, poor struggle to get in

Ravinder Sood

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Palampur, August 9

Hundreds of the poor have been deprived of the benefits available under the BPL, the IRDP and Antyodaya categories in the absence of a transparent selection mechanism.

Owing to the alleged rampant corruption in the Panchayati Raj System, many undeserving people have reportedly managed to get the entry in these schemes and are eating the share of the poor.

As per the information gathered by The Tribune, the government has given powers to panchayats to select poor families for these schemes. In the absence of any counter-check from SDMs or Deputy Commissioners, District Panchayat Officers and BDOs adopt a pick-and-chose policy and ignore the people, who are genuinely poor.

During a visit to many villages of Palampur, Baijnath and Jaisinghpur subdivisions, it was noticed that many deserving families have been kept out of these categories, while those who had all resources are the beneficiaries under the schemes. A senior officer of the state government told The Tribune that in 2018, as per the directions of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the state had ordered a baseline survey for the identification and verification of the persons availing the benefits under the BPL scheme, the IRDP and Antyodaya all over the state. Panchayat pradhans, secretaries of panchayats, patwaris and in charge of village fair price shops were the members of the committee.

The Tribune accessed the record of Baijnath where, as per the baseline survey, 2,937 ineligible families were found availing the benefits of BPL and other schemes. They were possessing four-wheelers, bank deposits and cemented houses.

The committee recommended the removal of such families from the list. However, even after the expiry of two years, the state has failed to implement reports of the survey and the ineligible people are still availing the benefits of such schemes.

The Tribune also reached out to many such people, including Kuldip Kumar of Gummer, Vinod Kumar of Banuri, Manohar Lal of Baijnath, Bhuddu Ram of Chadhiar and Dalipa of Harsar, who have been struggling for the past 10 years to get benefits of these schemes.

Dharmesh Ramotra, SDM, Palampur, and Block Development Officers of Bhawarna and Panchrukhi, when contacted by The Tribune, said they had no role in the selection of people under the schemes, as the state had given all powers to gram sabha. They said they had no power to review such selections and the matter could be redressed only if an affected person appealed to the SDM. The officers said there should be some supervisory agency with powers to quash such illegal selections.

2,937 non-deserving enjoy benefits

• The Tribune accessed the record of Baijnath, where, as per the baseline survey, 2,937 families are availing the benefits of BPL and other schemes. They have four-wheelers, bank deposits and cemented houses
• Many people in Gummer, Banuri, Baijnath, Chadhiar and Harsar have been struggling for the past 10 years to get the benefits of the schemes