The government of Odisha, after verification, found as many as 3.41lakh undeserving persons in the KALIA scheme. They have taken Rs 170 crore unauthorisedly from the government sanction.
Arun Kumar Sahu, the Agriculture Minister, on Tuesday, presented the figures before the media. He said that there are 20 thousand government employees who have enrolled themselves for benefit in the scheme. Some 9 thousand minors and 12 thousand large farmers have also made it the list of Kalia beneficiaries.
Government has asked the unauthorized beneficiaries to refund the money they had taken in the first installment of the Kalia scheme. The government may recover the money from the salary or pension of the government salaried or pensioner Kalia beneficiaries. In the case of the 9 thousand minors, the government may adjust the amount in the next installment of their parents; a similar method of recovery may be taken in the case of multiple beneficiaries in a family.
KALIA or Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation is an ambitious scheme of the Odisha government aimed to boost income and livelihood of farmers through monetary assistance. CM Naveen Patnaik had launched the program on December 18, last year with much fanfare with a promise to incorporate needy farmers in the scheme of Rs 10,000 per farmer per annum financial assistance and others.
As per Mr. Minister’s statement, total 51 lakh 5 thousand and 290 farmers have received Rs 5,000 towards the Kharif installment of KALIA. After reports of dishonesty in the beneficiary list came out, the Odisha government rechecked it. And found 3.41 lakh ineligible names in it.
Odisha government is to spend Rs13234 crore in the KALIA Scheme for 2019-20 fiscal.
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