More than 1 million people who signed up for the government's welfare scheme through the national e-payment system are unqualified to receive the one-off cash handouts.
The qualifications of 1.3 million out of 8.27 million people who registered for the government's assistance do not meet the cash giveaway's requirements, an informed source at the Finance Ministry said.
Of the total 1.3 million people, around 590,000 are farmers who are not registered as farmers with the Department of Agricultural Extension, Department of Livestock Development and Fisheries Department, and the remainder are non-farmers who gave incomplete information or whose qualifications do not match the requirements, the source said.
The 1.3 million unqualified people can still receive the cash handouts if they present evidence at the bank where they registered that they are qualified for the poverty scheme subsidy. The deadline is Dec 15.
Three banks -- Krungthai Bank (KTB), the Government Savings Bank (GSB) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperative (BAAC) -- were responsible for the scheme's registration from July 15 to Aug 15.
Under the scheme, those earning up to 30,000 baht a year are entitled to 3,000 baht per person, while those earning more than 30,000 but less than 100,000 baht a year are entitled to 1,500 baht.
The cash giveaway payment was delayed from Dec 1 to Dec 8 as the Finance Ministry wanted to ensure that the 8.3 million people who registered for the scheme were qualified after complaints that some of the applicants owned valuable assets.
The ministry source said that 3.23 million out of the 6.97 million people who qualified as cash-handout recipients earn up to 30,000 baht a year and the rest are those earning more than 30,000 baht but not exceeding 100,000 baht per year.
In the meantime, KTB said it has already given handouts to 300,000 people.
Some 1.03 million people signed up at KTB, the bank said, adding that those who do not have accounts at the bank can open one without any deposit requirement by Dec 27.