Grama One centres that collect fee from people will be blacklisted: DC

Mangaluru: Grama One, the flagship programme of the government aimed at delivering citizen services of all the departments to citizens in villages, has been found collecting money from people for guarantee scheme registration, though it is supposed to be done for free. Reacting to the issue, deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP said that if a specific complaint is received, then such centres will be blacklisted.Many centres functioning in rural areas of Dakshina Kannada district are charging Rs 50 for the enrolment of benefits under the Gruha Jyothi, one of the guarantee schemes of the state government. Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee president K Harish Kumar told STOI that he has brought the issue to the notice of district minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and the deputy commissioner. “All applications to the government need to be uploaded through the Grama One in villages. The government has already made provisions to upload registrations of the guarantee schemes through Grama One. There is a condition that the Grama One centres should upload registrations for guarantee schemes free of cost. Applicants need not pay money to the Grama One centres to register for guarantee schemes. Instead, the government will pay Rs 20 to Grama One centres for uploading each application,” said Kumar, who is also an MLC.Centres taking Rs 50 per applicationHowever, he added, the party has received several complaints from people in rural areas that Grama One centres have been collecting Rs 50 per application. “Many of the Grama One centres have been collecting Rs 50 from applications, in addition to getting Rs 20 from the government. I have submitted a complaint to the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada. The DC has promised to send a circular to all Grama One centres in the district,” he said. Dakshina Kannada district has 204 Grama One centres delivering citizen services of all the departments to rural citizens.
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