HYDERABAD: People who have been dead for years, car owners, landlords, and govt employees were all paid Aasara pensions meant for the poor and the needy in Telangana.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has reported several irregular and inappropriate pension beneficiaries in the state. According to its latest report tabled in the Telangana assembly on Thursday, the CAG auditors identified ineligible beneficiaries getting Rs 535 crore meant for the disabled, beedi workers and single women. In some cases the money was paid to more than one member in a household.
The report said govt itself identified over two lakh ineligible beneficiaries receiving 1,175 crore but did nothing. Together, this amounted to 1,710 crore being paid to beneficiaries who didn’t need it.
The report states data from Rythu Bandhu between 2018 and 2020 that was compared with Aasara beneficiaries revealed persons owning land beyond eligible limits were paid 67 crore. Sixteen per cent of households found to be ineligible as per state’s Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) were included as Aasara beneficiaries. Rythu Bima data revealed pensions worth 89 lakh were irregularly paid against 367 dead persons.
The report also found 2.3 lakh beneficiaries, (around 6%) did not receive anything between April 2018 and March 2021. Guidelines stipulated the data collected during SKS was to be considered as basis for identifying poor. When CAG auditors cross-checked, it revealed that 19% households did not reflect in SKS data. But 16% households found to be ineligible were included as beneficiaries.
Auditors also compared list of Aasara beneficiaries with transport department data and found 52 crore was passed to ineligible beneficiaries with four-wheelers. Data from registration & stamps department revealed 31 crore extended to persons with assets over 10 lakh. In many cases, pensions were withdrawn after beneficiaries’ death using biometric authentication of panchayat secretary. The auditors surveyed 480 beneficiaries and found that 32 (7%) were ineligible for the pension. As many as 126 households linked to 126 government employees too were drawing Aasara pensions.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has reported several irregular and inappropriate pension beneficiaries in the state. According to its latest report tabled in the Telangana assembly on Thursday, the CAG auditors identified ineligible beneficiaries getting Rs 535 crore meant for the disabled, beedi workers and single women. In some cases the money was paid to more than one member in a household.
The report said govt itself identified over two lakh ineligible beneficiaries receiving 1,175 crore but did nothing. Together, this amounted to 1,710 crore being paid to beneficiaries who didn’t need it.
The report states data from Rythu Bandhu between 2018 and 2020 that was compared with Aasara beneficiaries revealed persons owning land beyond eligible limits were paid 67 crore. Sixteen per cent of households found to be ineligible as per state’s Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) were included as Aasara beneficiaries. Rythu Bima data revealed pensions worth 89 lakh were irregularly paid against 367 dead persons.
The report also found 2.3 lakh beneficiaries, (around 6%) did not receive anything between April 2018 and March 2021. Guidelines stipulated the data collected during SKS was to be considered as basis for identifying poor. When CAG auditors cross-checked, it revealed that 19% households did not reflect in SKS data. But 16% households found to be ineligible were included as beneficiaries.
Auditors also compared list of Aasara beneficiaries with transport department data and found 52 crore was passed to ineligible beneficiaries with four-wheelers. Data from registration & stamps department revealed 31 crore extended to persons with assets over 10 lakh. In many cases, pensions were withdrawn after beneficiaries’ death using biometric authentication of panchayat secretary. The auditors surveyed 480 beneficiaries and found that 32 (7%) were ineligible for the pension. As many as 126 households linked to 126 government employees too were drawing Aasara pensions.