The finance division has made verified mobile financial service accounts mandatory for new beneficiaries to be included under the social safety net programme.
Officials said the move has been taken ahead of inclusion of around 4 lakh new beneficiaries to the SSNP in the upcoming FY25 to check its abuses.
Since 2019, all major cash transfer schemes have been brought under the Government-to-Person programme while the MFS has been chosen as a medium to send cash benefits under the SSNP since FY21.
But a tendency of receiving cash benefits by non-verified MFS account holders has been noticed, said the officials referring to a circular issued by the finance ministry on April 1.
Such a tendency creates scopes for misuse of cash benefits, said the officials.
The finance division has also directed ministries concerned to bring all manual beneficiaries鈥� accounts under the mobile financial service by June 30, 2025 in line with a circular.
The government provides safety net benefits under some 130 schemes and the total allocation is Tk聽126,000 crore in FY24.
The number of beneficiaries has been estimated at 1.5 crore.聽聽聽
However, the ineligible beneficiaries of elderly people and widows receive about Tk 1,500 crore every year because of poor targeting and regulatory weakness, said Centre for Policy Dialogue in a report released in March 2023.
The think tank said that about 30 per cent old age people and 33 per cent widows were found to be ineligible beneficiaries.