Bescom to recheck 550,000 Gruha Jyothi beneficiaries

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited will conduct a second door-to-door verification round for about 5.5 lakh Gruha Jyothi beneficiaries who have not submitted required documents or declined to provide personal details. Officials said the verification would begin as the main survey approached its September 30 deadline. The survey, launched in July, was initially scheduled to end on August 31 but was extended.

Bescom has about 68.86 lakh Gruha Jyothi beneficiaries within its jurisdiction. A senior official said the agency had completed roughly 99 per cent of household surveys, but 5.5 lakh beneficiaries had either failed to provide documents such as Aadhaar and voter identity cards or refused to provide them. The official said staff would revisit the households so that beneficiaries did not lose access to the scheme.

The statement did not say that benefits had already been withdrawn from those who had not supplied documents. Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta said the government was considering policy changes for people who could not provide details for various reasons. He said the second round would allow officials to verify beneficiaries who lacked the required documents.

The exercise is intended to check the records of households covered by Gruha Jyothi, the electricity-benefit scheme. The supplied material does not provide details of the number of beneficiaries who may ultimately be removed or the specific policy changes being considered.