Bihar: More than 81000 farmers ineligible for the PM Kisan scheme, will have to return Rs 81.6 crore

PC: Krishi Jagran

Over 81,000 farmers in Bihar have been found ineligible for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme and the government has asked state-owned banks to expedite the process of collecting refunds from them, a senior official said. He said that these farmers were found deprived of the Central Government programs due to payment of income tax and other reasons.

"After proper investigation, a total of 81,595 farmers in Bihar (45,879 income taxpayers from 2020 and 35,716 due to other reasons) have been identified as ineligible beneficiaries," Alok Ranjan Ghosh, director (agriculture), told PTI in the state agriculture department. has asked all the concerned banks to expedite the process of collecting the refund amount of about Rs 81.6 crore from the farmers.

He said that in the recent meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), senior officials were asked to give top priority to starting the collection process.

Lenders have also been asked to issue fresh reminders to ineligible farmers, if necessary, as well as freeze such accounts. Ghosh said that refund money worth about Rs 10.3 crore has been collected so far from these farmers by some banks.

The PM-Kisan scheme became operational in December 2018. Under the program, income support of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to all land-holding farmer families in three equal installments. State governments identify farmer families who are eligible for assistance as per the scheme guidelines, and the funds are transferred directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.