New Delhi: The Odisha government has found that it provided the benefit of its Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme to 3.41 lakh ineligible beneficiaries, The Hindu reported on Wednesday. This has led to the state exchequer spending Rs 170 crore more than it needed to on the scheme.Prior to the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the Odisha government announced the KALIA scheme in which agricultural households were to be provided financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per year (broken up into two instalments of Rs 5,000 each for kharif and rabi seasons). The households were also eligible to receive an accident cover of Rs 2 lakh and life insurance cover of the same amount.Apart from small and marginal farmers, sharecroppers and landless agricultural labourers were also eligible to benefit under the scheme. What was not permissible was that the same household receives two counts of the assistance.However, now the Odisha government has found that it provided the benefits under KALIA to three lakh such individuals who belonged to families with multiple beneficiaries. In addition, the state government has also found that it erred in providing the benefits to 20,000 government employees and pensioners, 12,000 farmers with large land holdings and 9,000 minors.This the government has found in a verification exercise that it ran in early August. Now, the government of Odisha has said that it will adjust the discrepancies in subsequent instalments in the case of the families who have received the benefit through more than one member.The government employees and pensioners who have received this amount will be asked to refund or the amount will be deducted from their salaries or pensions.The opposition has accused the government of hasty implementation with an eye to gain a benefit during elections. “I think the number of ineligible beneficiaries would be more than what the government is claiming. Only the BJD workers benefitted from the scheme while the actual farmers were deprived,” said senior Congress leader Suresh Routray, according to the Times of India.The BJP has also spoken out against the government. “Since the day the scheme was launched, we have been questioning its yardstick in enrolling beneficiaries. The government had none. It only tried to distribute cash to buy votes,” said BJP leader Pradeep Purohit.However, the Biju Janata Dal has disputed the findings of its own minister for agriculture and farmers welfare, Arun Kumar Sahoo. Party spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said that the number of ineligible beneficiaries who have benefitted under KALIA is 32,000 and not 3.41 lakh. “12,000 large farmers and 20,000 government employees and pension holders are fake beneficiaries,” he said, according to the Orissa Post.He argued that the three lakh households which have received the assistance more than once are eligible for benefits under the scheme and the extra amount that has been provided to them will be adjusted in subsequent instalments.
