Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has made a shocking discovery and found that the PM-KISAN scheme which is meant to benefit the poor has been used for a major scam in which over Rs 110 crore was fraudulently withdrawn.
The findings also revealed that it was done with the help of government officials and some local politicians.
Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Principal Secretary to the state of Tamil Nadu, while addressing the media said that a dramatically high number of people were added to the scheme in August.
"An investigation found that officials in the agricultural department had made use of the online application approval system and added many beneficiaries illegally. The modus operandi involved government officials providing login ID and password to brokers who added new beneficiaries and got ₹2,000 per addition, he said.
Bedi also said that as many as 80 government officials associated with agricultural schemes have been dismissed and 34 others have been suspended.
It was found that Kallakurichi, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Ranipet, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Chengalpet districts were the ones were the scam was going on.
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