‘Influential’ Elements Excluded From KALIA Beneficiary List

Bhubaneswar: Agriculture Secretary Sourabh Garg on Thursday informed the media that the names of some ‘influential’ elements have been excluded from the list of beneficiaries under the KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) Scheme.

“We had prepared a draft list of about 20 lakh beneficiaries in the first phase. However, during verification, we have excluded about 7.55 lakh ‘influential’ elements from the list and prepared the final list of 12.45 lakh. We don’t think there will be any ‘influential elements’ in the list. But if there is any such person, we have a system to find him or her,” Garg told mediapersons here.

He stated that Rs 5000 has been credited to the bank account of the beneficiaries whose names figured in the final list. There has been delay in the transfer of money to the accounts of about 20,000 beneficiaries through the direct benefit transfer (DBT).

The Agriculture Secretary claimed that the list has been prepared in a transparent manner, through self-declaration and self-selection. The process of selection of beneficiaries for the KALIA scheme will continue in subsequent phases.