Mysuru: The Karnataka Government has recovered Rs 79,86,760 that had been credited to the bank accounts of 15,724 deceased beneficiaries under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Mysuru district. The beneficiaries have now been removed from the scheme, officials said during a district-level review meeting on the implementation of the State Government’s guarantee schemes.
The recovery was discussed at a progress review meeting of the guarantee schemes held at the D. Devaraja Urs Hall of the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat. District-level Guarantee Schemes Implementation Committee President S. Arun Kumar chaired the meeting and directed officials to identify and recover any further amounts that may have been credited to beneficiaries after their death.
The development comes as authorities undertake a wider re-verification exercise of Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries across the district to ensure that government assistance reaches eligible households and that deceased or otherwise ineligible beneficiaries are removed from the database.
Rs 79.86 lakh recovered from deceased beneficiaries
According to officials, 15,724 beneficiaries who had died were identified during the verification process. Despite their deaths, financial assistance under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme had continued to be credited to their linked bank accounts.
Authorities subsequently recovered Rs 79,86,760 from those accounts and deposited the amount back with the Government. The figure is approximately Rs 79.86 lakh.
The district administration has also directed officials to examine pending cases and take steps to recover any amount that may have been transferred to the accounts of beneficiaries after their death.
The exercise is intended to improve the accuracy of beneficiary records and prevent government assistance from continuing to be transferred when eligibility has ceased.
Household verification underway
The recovery forms part of a broader re-verification drive for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme. Under the exercise, officials and enumerators will visit households to verify beneficiary details and identify eligible and ineligible recipients.
The State Government has introduced an enumerator form for the exercise, with information such as Electoral Photo Identity Card details being collected. The verification is intended to ensure that benefits are received by eligible residents and that deceased beneficiaries are removed from the system.
Women and Child Welfare Department officials said the verification process will involve Anganwadi workers and enumerators. One enumerator is proposed for every 250 beneficiaries, allowing officials to undertake household-level verification across the district.
Beneficiaries are also required to complete e-KYC and maintain a bank account in Karnataka, among other conditions prescribed under the revised implementation rules.
Rs 2.3 crore frozen in bank accounts
The verification exercise has also identified money that had been credited to accounts of deceased beneficiaries but had not yet been withdrawn.
Officials informed the review meeting that around Rs 2.3 crore had been frozen in the bank accounts of deceased beneficiaries. This amount is separate from the Rs 79.86 lakh already recovered and returned to the Government.
The authorities are expected to continue examining such accounts and take appropriate steps to recover amounts that were wrongly credited after the death of beneficiaries.
Officials also reported that around Rs 1.4 crore had been withdrawn by family members from the bank accounts of beneficiaries who continued to receive the Rs 2,000 monthly assistance after their death. The recovery process in such cases is part of the ongoing scrutiny.
Focus on identifying genuine beneficiaries
The review meeting also emphasised the need to ensure that eligible beneficiaries are not left out while the administration removes ineligible names.
District Guarantee Schemes Committee Vice-President Shivakumar urged officials involved in implementing the five guarantee schemes to ensure that benefits reach all eligible residents.
Another committee Vice-President, Hunsur Basavanna, said training was being provided at the taluk level to Anganwadi workers and enumerators involved in the Gruha Lakshmi re-verification process. Officials were also asked to create awareness among beneficiaries and inform them about the documents required for verification.
The exercise is therefore not limited to identifying deceased beneficiaries. It is also aimed at checking beneficiary eligibility and correcting gaps in the existing database.
Eligible beneficiary cases also being reviewed
During the meeting, officials also discussed cases in which eligible beneficiaries had not received the Gruha Lakshmi assistance.
Committee member S.A. Yogesh highlighted the case of Devamma from Sagare village in H.D. Kote taluk, who was reportedly eligible for the benefit but had not received the assistance due to certain issues.
Following the discussion and directions issued during the meeting, officials took steps to address the matter and ensure that the beneficiary receives the scheme’s assistance.
The case underlines the importance of carrying out the verification process carefully so that efforts to remove ineligible beneficiaries do not prevent genuine beneficiaries from receiving the support intended for them.
Gruha Lakshmi scheme under closer scrutiny
The Gruha Lakshmi scheme provides monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,000 to eligible women heading households. As the scheme covers a large beneficiary base, maintaining accurate records is important for ensuring that public funds are transferred only to eligible recipients.
The latest verification drive is aimed at updating beneficiary information and removing names that no longer meet the eligibility requirements. Household visits are expected to provide officials with updated information on beneficiaries and help identify discrepancies in the database.
Officials have also highlighted the requirement that beneficiaries should have an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in Karnataka. The revised verification process is expected to help authorities establish whether beneficiaries continue to meet the prescribed conditions.
The recovery of Rs 79.86 lakh from accounts linked to deceased beneficiaries demonstrates the scale of the exercise in Mysuru district. At the same time, the identification of additional frozen funds and cases where eligible beneficiaries have not received assistance shows that the verification process has multiple objectives.
Government seeks tighter monitoring of guarantee schemes
The district-level review meeting also covered the implementation of other State Government guarantee schemes. Officials were instructed to ensure that benefits reach eligible citizens and that implementation issues are addressed promptly.
The committee stressed the importance of monitoring the schemes at the local level and improving coordination between departments responsible for implementation.
For the Gruha Lakshmi scheme specifically, the ongoing re-verification is expected to provide a more updated beneficiary database. The administration has called for household-level data collection, completion of e-KYC and verification of bank account details.
The recovery of funds credited after the death of beneficiaries is also expected to continue wherever such cases are identified.
Conclusion
The recovery of Rs 79.86 lakh from the accounts of 15,724 deceased Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries marks a significant step in the ongoing verification of the scheme in Mysuru district. Authorities have removed the deceased beneficiaries from the scheme and are examining other accounts where payments may have continued after death.
With household verification now underway, officials are focusing on both removing ineligible beneficiaries and ensuring that genuine beneficiaries receive their entitled assistance. The administration has also been directed to recover any remaining amounts wrongly credited after beneficiaries’ deaths.