Now, Odisha Agriculture Dept Issues Clarification On ‘Ineligible’ KALIA Beneficiaries Row

Bhubaneswar: The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment on Wednesday issued a clarification stating that 3 lakh persons, who availed benefits under KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) scheme, were eligible but belonged to a family in which another person had also received assistance.

None of the persons who received the assistance was an ineligible beneficiary, it said while admitting that such person could be a minor.

The clarification came a day after Agriculture Minister Arun Kumar Sahu had issued a statement to the media about 3.41 lakh fake beneficiaries.

Earlier in the day, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb had said that only 32,000 ineligible beneficiaries had availed benefits under the scheme. He, however, had admitted that about 20,000 government employees and pension holders and about 12,000 large farmers, who were ineligible, had received KALIA assistance.

The department further said that 51.05 lakh beneficiaries had been assisted under the KALIA scheme. The funds were sent all through electronic bank transfers. Thus every rupee spent was accounted for and could be traced from the government to the farmer’s account.

The entire exercise from identification of beneficiaries to their final selection was done in a record time of three months. Of 1.19 crore applicants, only 51.05 lakh were selected. Among those selected, only 32,000 were found to be ineligible.

“The fact that 99 per cent of the beneficiaries are eligible and that funds can be traced from the Government to the final beneficiary sets a higher benchmark in any government scheme not only in the state but across the country,” it added.