Cabinet panel to prepare action plan for physical verification of ‘Praja Palana’ applications

Hyderabad: The Cabinet Sub-Committee on ‘PrajaPalana’ has decided to prepare an action plan for physical verification of more than one crore applications received from the citizens to avail ‘five guarantees’ and compile a fool-proof data to extend every scheme benefit to deserving.

Sub-committee chairman and Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka held a high-level meeting with officials and discussed the implementation of the guarantees by verifying every application. He said 1.05 Crore applications were received for the five guarantees under ‘PrajaPalana’, while another 19.93 lakh applications are received in other categories. He instructed officials to give top priority to complete data entry process within stipulated time. The officials were directed to formulate an action plan for taking up physical verification in the next meeting. The officials were also asked to do some exercise in their respective departments for field verification. Minister Sridhar Babu underscored the need to identify the eligible beneficiary without overlapping so that genuine persons receive the benefit.

Referring to reports appearing in certain media and other platforms, he clarified that no bank details were sought from beneficiaries and no OTP was asked by officials during ‘PrajaPalana.

The minister clarified that no phone number will be asked from applicants during the process of data entry. He suspected some vested interested groups ‘are deliberately attempting to misguide people and confuse them by spreading rumours on finalisation of beneficiaries.

Members of the committee discussed the modalities for implementing five guarantees and how to integrate the data submitted by the applicants with the data available with various departments. Timelines for completion of data entry along with data analytics and exercise to avoid duplication was discussed in the meeting. It was also decided that field verification will be done to fill the gaps in data from applications.

Special Chief Secretary (Finance) K Ramakrishna Rao, Principal Secretaries Navin Mittal, Sandeep Kumar Sultania, SAM Rizvi, Dana Kishore, Jitender, Commissioner of Civil Supplies D S Chowhan, Secretary R&B Srinivas Raju and other senior officials attended the meeting.