Beneficiaries wrongly declared dead to get pending dues: Dir of Social Welfare Dept
Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji : Director of Social Welfare Ajit Panchwadkar, who has directed officials to investigate into the matter of a few beneficiaries of the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS) being declared dead, said that errors can always happen but the survey has helped them identify genuine beneficiaries.
The department has initiated a detailed verification process after some beneficiaries of the DSS Scheme were wrongly declared dead by field staff.
“This is a regular part of our department’s work,” Panchwadkar said.
“Deletion and addition of names is an ongoing process. Errors may happen, but this survey has helped us identify genuine beneficiaries.”
Beneficiaries who were victims of erroneous verification, and had their payments stopped will receive pending DSS amounts along with interest next month, he said.
As part of this process, field officers recently visited the 80-year-old beneficiary in Taleigao, who was declared dead, to verify her status and complete necessary documentation.
Panchwadkar said that disbursement of funds will resume once formalities are completed.
The government is also taking steps to reduce bogus beneficiaries. The names of all DSS Scheme beneficiaries will soon be published on official government websites.
“To promote transparency and ensure accountability, the government has decided to put the names of all welfare scheme beneficiaries online,” Panchwadkar said.
“A transparent system will help reduce misuse and manipulation of welfare schemes. Everything will be open to the public, and cheating the system will no longer be easy.”
Following the survey, about 14,000 new vacancies have been created under the DSS scheme. The total cap for beneficiaries is 1,40,000.
10% of DSSS beneficiaries bogus, Rs 50 crore recovered: Phal Dessai
Panaji: Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai has revealed that nearly 10% of beneficiaries under the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS) were found to be bogus, with around 13,000 to 14,000 individuals either dead, untraceable, outsiders, or otherwise ineligible for the scheme.
“We have recovered Rs 50 crore so far, and we are saving Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore every month, which goes back to the government’s account,” he said, adding that these funds can now be used for other public welfare initiatives.
As per department policy, beneficiaries are required to submit a life certificate once a year. Failure to do so results in a halt to benefits.
“Instead of acting strictly, our department sends staff to verify the situation. If we still get wrong or no information, we declare the person as dead or non-traceable and stop the benefits,” Phal Dessai said.
He said that some outsiders were wrongly receiving benefits and their names have now been removed from the list.
“There are now around 14,000 vacant spots, which can be given to genuine beneficiaries,” he said.
Surveyors have been instructed to carefully verify all details before making any declarations in the future, he added.
