Rs 51.37L Disbursed Among 47 Families Non-Existent In CID, HC List
Srinagar– The Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) of India’s latest audit report has revealed that due to the non-formulation of a policy for Jammu migrants and unnecessary disbursement of relief to “ineligible” families, several eligible beneficiaries were overlooked from the full benefits of Migrant relief under Prime Minister’s Development Package(PMDP).
As per CAG, the database of Jammu migrants and their families was not prepared by the Relief and Rehabilitation Department and were further not updated on account of births, deaths, separation despite the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of J&K identifying the eligible beneficiaries, after due verification of the migrant families.
“Thus, in the absence of a database, it could not be ensured that only eligible beneficiaries have been paid assistance under the Schemes.” reads the CAG report.
The audit report has further revealed that 25 families who were ineligible as they had failed to find a place in the list furnished by CID were paid a relief amount of 27.26 lakh along with the monthly cash assistance.
“Further, in the case of Tehsildar Reasi, arrears of Rs 51.37 lakh from April 2004 to September 2007 was paid to 47 migrant families who neither existed in CID list nor in the list of High Court. As payment of Rs 78.63 lakh was made to beneficiaries not featuring in the designated lists, the same needs to be investigated so that recovery is affected from ineligible beneficiaries.” CAG has said.
Notably, the CAG report has also stated that there were several payments of enhanced cash assistance to ineligible migrant families. As per the audit, an excess disbursement of cash assistance of Rs 67.14 lakh to 84 migrant families and inadmissible payment of arrears of Rs 75.53 lakh was made to 49 migrant families for the period prior to their registration as migrants.
“Besides, excess payment of arrears of Rs 28.99 lakh to 159 migrant families on account of interest on cost of ration was also observed.” CAG said.
Pertinently, CAG has also revealed that there was a denial of cash assistance to migrant families who were already declared eligible and were also mentioned on the CID list.
“No cash assistance was paid to 20 migrant families after their registration as migrants, although free ration to these families was allowed.” reads the CAG report.
As per CAG, the disbursement of cash relief has already been made as of December 2020, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal since November 2017.
Audit has also noticed that the bank account of Tehsildar, Reasi had an undisbursed balance of Rs 50.18 lakh as of 29 August 2019. “Further, the Tehsildar, Reasi had remitted Rs 17 lakh into Government account as of 31 March 2020.”
It is pertinent to mention here, in 2015 J&K Government under PMDP had accorded sanction for payment of cash assistance to registered Jammu migrants at a rate of Rs 2,500 per person per month subject to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per family per month with effect from 18 November 2015, as well as ration at the existing scale.
Subsequently, the rates of cash relief were enhanced with effect from 13 June 2018 to the rate of Rs 3,250 per head per month subject to a ceiling of Rs 13,000 per family per month.
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