Bhopal: Sambal Yojna turns out to be bitter pill, Rs 326cr filched

Bhopal: Sambal Yojna turns out to be bitter pill, Rs 326cr filched

71 lakh fake beneficiaries walk off with subsidy on power bills

Staff ReporterUpdated: Tuesday, October 22, 2019, 11:39 PM IST
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BHOPAL: Fake beneficiaries have filched Rs 326 crore in the name of subsidy on power bills under Sambal Yojana, an ambitious scheme launched by former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The scheme was launched to provide electricity to beneficiaries for a monthly electricity bill of Rs 200 only. The government gave Rs 999 crore as subsidy on these electricity bills.

Under the scheme, 2.18 crore workers were registered. In the verification done by labour department, 71 lakh workers were found fake. These fake workers were given 326 crore in the previous financial year. They were given benefits to the tune of around Rs 400 crore including electricity bills.

When Congress came to power, the verification of workers registered under the scheme was undertaken. In the recently concluded verification, it was found that around one-third registrations were fake. These fake beneficiaries were not eligible to avail the benefits of the scheme. The reason behind such a big number of registration was electricity at a very cheap rate. The state government has put the condition of charging Rs 100 for consuming 100 units of electricity. This scheme is now extended to all sections of the society.

BJP emptied state coffer for votes: Sisodia

Labour minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia, commenting on the irregularities in Sambal Yojana, said the BJP government emptied the government coffer merely for votes. He claimed that 71 lakh ineligible beneficiaries were registered and given benefits including electricity at cheaper rates. Sisodia claimed that most of the beneficiaries are the people of BJP who got themselves registered through wrong means. Sisodia said all such figures will be put up before the Chief Minister before taking decision.

30,000 taxpayers taking benefit of Sambal: In the verification, it was found that 30,000 taxpayers were availing the benefits of the scheme. Even those who were income tax payees were registered. As per the rule, income taxpayers were not allowed to avail the benefits of the scheme.

Collectors got Samagra data entered: During BJP government, district collectors were instructed to get maximum registrations done under the Sambal scheme, prior to the assembly polls. These district collectors, under pressure of then government, got Samagra data entered for registration. This resulted in thousands of ineligible persons getting registered under the scheme.

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