Suspecting Rs 100 crore misuse, Karnataka govt to dig deep into guarantee beneficiaries

Bengaluru: The Congress government has decided to scrutinise the beneficiary lists of its guarantee schemes, suspecting misuse of Rs 100 crore in the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides a monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to the woman head of every eligible family.

Deputy CM D K Shivakumar on Monday said the government was planning to review the beneficiaries’ list in every taluk.

“We need to verify if the schemes are reaching the genuine beneficiaries. Some beneficiaries have passed away and around Rs 100 crore was found to be misused as some beneficiaries had provided phone numbers belonging to others. So, during the discussion, there was a suggestion to collect beneficiary records afresh,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka alleged the government was trying to downsize the beneficiaries.

“It is an excuse to slash beneficiaries amid a funds crunch. Do you need a separate campaign to remove the dead beneficiaries? It is Congress’ drama. It is a routine practice in the revenue department to remove names on submission of death certificates and you don’t need a special campaign to remove the dead from the list,” Ashoka said.

The BJP leader alleged the state is “pauper” and said around Rs 5,000 crore was pending under Gruha Lakshmi and Rs 700 crore under Anna Bhagya schemes as the state government had not paid for the 5kg free rice as promised.  

On the two-month delay in ‘Annabhagya’ free rice distribution, Shivakumar alleged that the Union government had not released the rice and it was the case across all the Congress-ruled states.

Countering Shivakumar on rice supply, Ashoka said: “The Centre has despatched the state quota for May-June. The state indented four lakh metric tonnes at Rs 23 per kg but made no payment. I have spoken to the Union minister. This is a clear indication that the state has gone bankrupt.”

The Siddaramaiah regime has spent Rs 1.36 lakh crore on the five guarantee schemes in the last three years.

The government has flagged concerns over alleged misuse of funds under Gruha Lakshmi (1.24 crore beneficiaries) and Gruha Jyoti (1.64 crore households) schemes, which are now under the scanner.