POVERTY: Below Poverty Line: A rich farmer, a dairy owner, a govt contractor

Deepender Deswal, TNN, Jan 12, 2011

ROHTAK: India's massive Below Poverty Line (BPL) population — that brings it constant embarrassment at the international level — comprises a farmer who owns five acres of land, a government contractor, a milk dairy owner, a banquet hall owner and hundreds like them.
An exhaustive survey conducted by the Rohtak range Inspector General of Police (IGP) office has exposed glaring irregularities in the BPL list in Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's home district Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Panipat and Karnal districts. An estimated 13,000 to 15,000 BPL card holders, according to this survey, are in fact "well-off" and therefore not eligible at all. These ineligible card holders have managed to get BPL cards by illegal and corrupt means.
The IGP office had taken the lid off this scandal around a year ago. The criminal proceedings were initiated against 410 ineligible BPL beneficiaries in Rohtak. The police went slow after issuing warnings to the families and asked them to surrender their cards.
However, the IGP office renewed the drive recently after not getting desired response from the illegal beneficiaries. The security branch of the police has so far detected over 13000 ineligible beneficiaries. According to the list, in Sonipat, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Panipat and Karnal there are 6469, 3010, 1710, 1209 and 790 ineligible beneficiaries respectively.
The IG V Kamaraja told TOI that it was shocking that names of well-off people appeared in the BPL list so frequently. "We have started sending notices to such families directing them to surrender their cards. These families have been given ultimatum to get their names struck off from the list by January 23 after which criminal proceedings could be initiated against them. I am dispatching around 400 notices to these people daily," he said adding that he wanted these people to come forward on their own and surrender the cards and to allow the actual beneficiaries to get benefits.
The police sources disclosed that it was an uphill task given the political pressure against the survey. "Politicians feel that the survey could irk their voters. So they tried to create hurdles in the survey. That's why we are unable to carry out exhaustive survey in Rohtak," a police source told TOI.
A social activist Yoginder Dahiya demanded that the irregularities in preparing the BPL list be exposed and the names of BPL beneficiaries made public.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Below-Poverty-Line-A-rich-farmer-a-dairy-owner-a-govt-contractor/articleshow/7269536.cms#ixzz1BCxV1yfc