Chandigarh, May 30 (PTI) Punjab Minister Aman Arora on Tuesday ordered officials to lodge a police complaint over reports that some miscreants have created a fake portal of the PM-Kusum scheme to dupe farmers with an assurance of installing solar-powered pumps.

The new and renewable energy sources minister said it has come to his notice that some miscreants have created fake Facebook accounts and a hoax portal of the PM-Kusum scheme to dupe farmers.

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They are demanding advance amounts from the farmers, besides collecting documents of their land, bank accounts, Aadhaar cards and photos, he said in an official release here.

Arora asked the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) officials to lodge a police complaint and get the matter investigated. He also released the mobile numbers of PEDA officials for people to lodge a complaint about the fraud.

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Arora said whenever PEDA invites applications for setting up solar-powered pumps under the PM-KUSUM scheme, it would be informed through newspapers and other official mass media platforms.

Under the PM-Kusum scheme, farmers get financial support for installing standalone solar-powered agriculture pumps by replacing diesel-powered pumps.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)