260 ‘farmers’ in city getting ₹6K a year under PM scheme

State agriculture department officials have found that 260 ‘farmers’ in the city receive annual cash assistance of ₹6,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

State agriculture department officials have found that 260 ‘farmers’ in the city receive annual cash assistance of ₹6,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, launched earlier this year, although the district collectorates of Mumbai suburban and Mumbai city said no farmers are registered in their jurisdictions. Admitting that some beneficiaries have been added to the list without due verification, the district collectors have now started conducting verification drives in villages.

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While 256 of the 260 beneficiaries are from Mumbai suburbs, four are from the island city.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi government launched the PM Samman Nidhi scheme. Around 1.20 crore farmers in Maharashtra are expected to be eligible for the scheme, although currently, 79 lakh have been registered.

The farmers registered for the scheme have started receiving their fourth instalment of ₹2,000 last month. Of the 256 farmers registered in Mumbai suburbs, 251 have received all the instalments. All four farmers in the island city have got all the instalments. The agriculture department has now realised that the beneficiaries registered for the scheme were either wrongly registered or are the ones with landholding at their native places. “Those with income of more than ₹2.5 lakh are not eligible for the scheme. Most of the beneficiaries in Mumbai are unlikely to be earning less than the income tax parameters,” said an official, adding due verification has not been done properly as the scheme was launched in a haste.

“There are a few entries wrongly made in Mumbai. As per the new directives of the Centre, we are launching verification drives in 5% villages of each district,” said Jayant Tekale, deputy collector, agriculture commissionerate.

Ajit Nawale of the Kisan Sabha slammed the administration and said the Mumbai cases need to be thoroughly investigated