Wasn’t us: Agriculture, as over 2L farmers get Rythu Bharosa SMS

The letter dated November 4 said that 2,73,128 farmers received these messages, but they were neither generated nor authorised by the agriculture department.

Hyderabad: The Agriculture department has written to the state DGP of the Cyber Crime Wing over unauthorised SMS messages sent to over two lakh farmers over the Rythu Bharosa Scheme, seeking an investigation.

The November 4 letter by the Director of the department, B Gopi, said that 2,73,128 farmers received these messages, but they were neither generated nor authorised by the agriculture department.

However, the letter does not elaborate on the contents of the messages.

It said it has been using the CDAC SMS service portal for sending official SMS communications to farmers but did not send said messages.

It said, “There is a possibility of unauthorised access, misuse of the department’s name, or misuse of SMS communication channels to send messages to farmers.”

Hence, the department requested the Cyber Crime Wing to investigate the source of these messages, identify “the agency, individual, or entity responsible for initiating and transmitting
the SMS messages”, and examine if the CDAC SMS Service Portal or any other SMS gateway has been misused.

The department also sought that the technical details, including SMS gateway, sender ID, transmission logs and related IP addresses, be traced and that the police take “appropriate legal action against the persons or agencies responsible for such unauthorised SMS communications”.

Seeking an urgent intervention, the department pointed out that such unauthorised messages may create confusion among farmers while impacting the credibility of the department and the Rythu Bharosa Scheme.