Lucknow, Sep 3 - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has ordered fresh verification of the entire list of old age pensioners in the state after large-scale irregularities and fictitious beneficiaries were detected in the scheme, an official said Thursday.

Principal Secretary for Social Welfare Prem Narain said all district magistrates have been asked to start the verification process, right down to the village level, immediately. The government has given a month's period for the exercise and Sep 30 is the deadline.

Narain warned officials to remove all fictitious names from the lists and to ensure that the revised lists were absolutely correct, otherwise action would be taken against them.

Divisional commissioners and chief development officers (CDOs) have been asked to thoroughly check the revised lists, and the CDOs told they would be held directly responsible for any lapse and incorrect entries in the new lists, Narain said.