By Mukesh 
Mysuru Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer S. Yukesh Kumar on Thursday directed banks not to deduct Gruha Lakshmi Scheme funds towards loan repayments, stating that beneficiaries must receive the assistance amount in full on humanitarian grounds.
Speaking at the District Guarantee Implementation Authority committee meeting held at the Zilla Panchayat, he also instructed officials to immediately stop Gruha Lakshmi payments in cases where the beneficiaries had died.
Presiding over the meeting, District Guarantee Schemes Authority president Arun Kumar directed officials to ensure that all eligible beneficiaries in the district receive the benefits of the five guarantee schemes.
Senior officials from the Women and Child Development Department clarified that income tax payers are not eligible for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme under existing rules. However, they said eligible beneficiaries who had been left out would be included.
Mr. Arun Kumar also instructed the Food Department to widely publicise the reopening of the BPL card application portal so that eligible applicants could apply, noting that BPL cards were essential for availing subsidised treatment and scanning facilities at hospitals.
He further directed transport authorities to install RO drinking water units at bus stands and display signboards informing passengers about online ticket payment facilities in KSRTC buses.
Authority vice-president Shivakumar expressed concern over payments continuing to be made to deceased beneficiaries. He suggested adopting technology to automatically stop payments once a beneficiary’s death is registered and called for the recovery of funds already transferred after their deaths.
Officials from the Food and Civil Supplies Department said that Mysuru district has 6,80,301 ration cards, and around 23,000 cards had been shifted from the BPL to the APL category as the holders were income tax payers or owned more than 7.5 hectares of land.
CESC Superintending Engineer Sunil said 9,68,228 beneficiaries had registered under the Gruha Jyoti Scheme in the district, while 6,548 registrations were still pending. Around 60% of the beneficiaries receive zero electricity bills, while the remaining 40% pay bills due to consumption exceeding the prescribed average limit, he added.