The opposition has accused the state government of hastily implementing the KALIA scheme with an eye on elections.
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.
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