Karwar: In a sweeping crackdown on fraudulent claims under its social welfare schemes, the Karnataka government has identified 11.8 lakh pension beneficiaries who may have used falsified documents to access old-age and disability pensions. Among them are over 13,700 income tax payers and 117 government employees—individuals clearly not eligible under current norms, informed state minister Krishna Byre Gowda. He was speaking at a review meeting held in the district office in Karwar on Tuesday.

Gowda said that the state authorities say some pensioners used fake disability certificates, while Aadhaar-based checks revealed many were underage for the old-age pension scheme. A detailed re-verification has been ordered, with Uttara Kannada district alone reporting nearly 12,000 suspicious cases.

In a parallel move, the state has launched an aggressive land record cleansing campaign. Officials said 52.55 lakh properties across Karnataka still remain in the names of deceased farmers, disqualifying them from key central subsidies like PM-Kisan. Over 20,000 land title transfers to heirs have been completed in the last month.

In Uttara Kannada, 1.90 lakh land parcels are still registered under the names of 57,000 deceased persons. Instructions have been issued to complete free-of-cost transfers to legal heirs within six months.

Under the ‘Bhoosuraksha’ programme, the government is also scanning and digitising old revenue records. Of the 100 crore-page archive, 33.1 crore pages have been digitised, with the rest expected within six months. Once complete, citizens will be able to access certified land records online without visiting government offices Gowda later told the presspersons.