Hyderabad: Officials of the revenue wing in the district collectorates have been demanding huge bribes to process Kalyana Lakshmi applications.
Though the state government has introduced the online system to minimise human intervention, primary clearances have to be given by the revenue wing, such as identifying the beneficiaries and processing the applications so that the money will be directly deposited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
Due to this loophole, the revenue officials in district collectorates are demanding Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 to certify the applicant and process the application. If the applicant does not pay up, some of the attenders are made to call them up and negotiate.
Higher authorities are aware of this looting of the public at the ground level but claim that the government can’t act until it gets solid evidence. This is strange since corruption at the ground level has been noticed even by the Chief Minister who has promised to stamp out corruption in the revenue department by bringing in new legislation.
The state government introduced the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mu-barak scheme on Octo-ber 2, 2014 for Scheduled Castes/Tribes and mino-rities and it was later extended to all sections.
The amount was enhanced from Rs 51,000 to Rs 75,116 in 2017 and then again to Rs 1,00,116.
The intentions of the government have been nullified by its own officials and the scheme is more a bane than a blessing for those it is intended to benefit.
The monthly salary of field level revenue officials who identify the beneficiaries is about Rs 30,000 per month, but their illegal income would be Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh a month based on the number of applications processed. Around two to four applications would be processed every day in all collectorates across the state.
To apply for Kalyana Lakshmi, the applicant has to submit Aadhaar card, birth certificate of the bride issued by the competent authority, caste certificate, income certificate not older than six months from the date of marriage, bank account for both bride and bride’s mother and wedding card (optional).
The prerequisites are clearly mentioned, but highly placed sources in the government told Deccan Chronicle that the revenue officials are demanding the birth certificate, caste certificate and others documents of the bridegroom.
Moreover, the bribe is Rs 5,000 if the beneficiary provides the required documents and Rs 7,000 if they do not have the documents of the bridegroom.
This newspaper has shared with special chief secretary, revenue, Rajeshwar Tiwari, an audio clip revealing this corruption.
In the recording, Marredpally revenue inspector M.D. Omar and his attender Prasad are purportedly negotiating with a beneficiary and allegedly demanding Rs 7,000 to overlook the missing document (birth certificate of the bridegroom). In the recording, the two purportedly say they would normally charge Rs 5,000 per application, but in case of missing documents they take Rs 7,000 bribe to process the application. Marredpally revenue division falls under the Hyderabad collectorate.
Mr Tiwari said the government has minimised human intervention pertaining to the Kalyana Lakshmi scheme, by allowing beneficiaries to apply online and get money directly transferred into their account. But he admitted that the details of the beneficiary have to be verified by the revenue officials.
He said the government will not tolerate any kind of corruption in the scheme, and if any official is found guilty “with concrete evidence” it will be brought to the notice of district collectors and joint collectors to take stern action.
