Multiple members of families got subsidy
LUCKNOW: Yet another scam has come to light in the paan cultivation promotional scheme—this time in Mahoba of Bundelkhand district, where multiple members of same families have received the subsidy.
Analysing replies to their RTI queries, the Rashtriya Paan Kisan Union has identified six such cases. Of these, five of the families had two beneficiaries each, while in case of one family, the state horticulture department doled out benefits to three of its members.
For instance, Narvada Prakash Chaurasia and Rajkumar Chaurasia, both sons of late Hardayal Chaurasia of Kabrai received ` 75,680 each, under the scheme in 2012-13.
Similarly, Sheetal and Lalchandra, sons of Tulli of the same Kabrai development block also received the same subsidy amount. There are similar cases in 2013-14. In one, three sons of Kunjey Chaurasia, Paramlala, Mukund and Kamlesh, received ` 45,408 each.
“We demand an investigation into this and punishment for the guilty,” said Rashtriya Paan Kisan Union general secretary Choteylal Chaurasia, who had filed the series of RTI applications regarding the subsidy under the scheme.
The replies have revealed several anomalies already, which led state horticulture and food processing minister Paras Nath Yadav to order an inquiry into allegations of a scam in subsidy distribution in several districts on September 29. HT had carried a report last week about the alleged multi-district scam.
Earlier, the paan kisan union had filed RTI after learning that subsidies had been distributed to people who were not engaged in paan farming. “The previous RTI replies had indicated that some Muslims, Pandits, Thakurs, Yadavs and Dalits had turned into paan (betel) farmers. These are communities that are not engaged in paan cultivation. And now we have come to know about multiple beneficiaries in the same families,” said Choteylal Chaurasia.
The UP government is running the scheme in 21 districts—Unnao, Rae Bareli, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Azamgarh, Hardoi, Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Amethi, Allahabad, Sitapur, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra; and the central government is running it in four districts—Hardoi, Jaunpur, Mahoba and Lalitpur.