India News | Odisha Govt Decides to Keep Kalia Scheme Refund in Abeyance
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Keeping in view the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation and kharif crop activities in the state, the Odisha government on Sunday decided to put the process of refund collection from ineligible beneficiaries of Kalia scheme in abeyance.
Bhubaneswar, Aug 9 (PTI) Keeping in view the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation and kharif crop activities in the state, the Odisha government on Sunday decided to put the process of refund collection from ineligible beneficiaries of Kalia scheme in abeyance.
The state government had earlier asked all the ineligible beneficiaries of Kalia (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) to refund the amount they received in default.
"In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation and the Kharif agricultural crop operations, it has been decided to keep the refund activities of Kalia assistance from the ineligible beneficiaries in abeyance for the present," Director of Agriculture and Food Production, Odisha wrote to all the Chief District Agriculture Officer (CDAO).
The letter also asked the CDAOs to inform the government's decision to field extension functionaries accordingly.
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Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had launched the Kalia scheme, the state's own farmer welfare scheme in December, 2018. The scheme promised financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to be provided to small and marginal farmers every year in two instalments for separate crops.
Accordingly, as many as 51.05 lakh farmers were given financial assistance under the KALIA scheme. However, around 50,000 out of the total beneficiaries who availed benefits under the scheme were found ineligible and they were asked to return the money.
Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment secretary Sourav Garg said though around 98 per cent farmer beneficiaries of Kalia were genuine, about 50,000 ineligible persons also took the assistance.
"The ineligible farmers were asked to refund the money they have received," Garg said.
Odisha governments direction to ineligible farmers to refund the amount was strongly opposed by BJP and Congress. Leader of Opposition P K Naik of BJP had called upon farmers not to refund the amount as they had not committed any mistake. The government had deposited the amount in their bank accounts ahead of 2019 elections in order to motivate the farmers, Naik said.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for MSME and senior BJP leader Pratap Sarangi said: "The government first asked ineligible beneficiaries to return funds and now stopped it. When the government is talking about transparency, it is lacking in the Kalia scheme. The government must think about how the ineligible persons in large numbers could avail the benefits."
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)