Assam: Letter on PM-Kisan Scam forwarded to Agriculture Department

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Amguri Nabanirman Samitee (ANS) complaint letter to the CBI, requesting it to investigate the alleged embezzlement of funds under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, popularly known as the PM-Kisan in Assam, has now been forwarded to the Commissioner & the Secretary, Agriculture Department, by the state Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, seeking necessary action on the ‘self-explicit’ letter.

The letter also states that the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption here has not conducted any inquiry or verification of the matter mentioned in the letter. The ANS had earlier moved the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), seeking a neutral investigation through the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the CBI to take legal action against the erring agriculture development officers (ADOs) and district agriculture officers (DAOs) involved in a Rs 567 crore scam in PM-Kisan scheme, but to no avail. The organization has also written to the CBI about the same subject.

In its complaint lodged with the CBI, the ANS said that those involved in the implementation of the Central government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme in Assam swindled around Rs 567 crore through fake farmers numbering around 8,44,672. The ADOs and the DAOs had selected the 8,44,672 fake farmers from 33 districts of the state.

The ANS told the CBI that the state government took no action against the ADOs and the DAOs even after this large-scale embezzlement of funds meant for farmers. In a recent inspection by the state government in a few districts, the names of 98 agricultural development officers came to light. “Even after the names of these agricultural development officers came to light, the state government didn’t take any legal action against the ADOs,” the ANS complaint said.

Talking to The Sentinel, ANS president Diganta Saikia said, “Although there are 98 names of ADOs from different districts, there is no name of any ADO in seven districts of Upper Assam and two in Lower Assam.”

Saikia pointed out that the lists provided to him by the department did not include any ADOs from the districts of Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat, and Golaghat in Upper Assam, as well as Bongaigaon and Chirang in Lower Assam, despite the fact that fake beneficiaries were named in these districts.

Also Read: Assam: ANS moves PM, seeks CBI probe on PM-Kisan scam