Ineligible persons benefitting from EWS scheme, says Ashok Khemka

Chandigarh, June 15

Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka on Tuesday pointed out that ineligible persons were getting benefits under the Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana, which provides social and financial security to families having an income of up to Rs 1.8 lakh per annum and landholdings up to 2 hectares.

He said there were disproportionately high number of beneficiaries in five districts — Karnal, Hisar, Bhiwani, Fatehabad and Kaithal — comprising 43.4 per cent of the total, while Faridabad, Gurugram, Panchkula, Rohtak and Charkhi Dadri comprised just 7.1 per cent of the total.

In his letter to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Khemka said Nuh, the most backward district, had just 2.4 per cent of the total beneficiaries, whereas Karnal, amongst the richest districts, had 10.4 per cent. Nuh has just 21,037 beneficiaries, while Karnal has 90,943.

He said, “It seems the family income was not verified before releasing the benefits under the scheme, leading to avoidable waste of public money.”

Khemka is the in-charge of Nuh district. — TNS