Bhubaneswar: The state government which has completed 72 per cent of verification of beneficiaries under the KALIA scheme, has identified at least 7 per cent stakeholders as ‘ineligible’.
The information was revealed by state Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Arun Sahoo before the media Thursday after a high-level review meeting of the scheme, considered a flagship programme of the state government which was launched before the General Election of 2019.
As per available figures, 2,66,000 (7 per cent) fake beneficiaries have been identified by the government, the minister told reporters.
“The Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme has benefitted more than 51 Lakh people from the state government. A scrutiny of 36, 86,000 beneficiaries done by the government revealed that around 2.66 lakh beneficiaries were virtually fake,” he pointed out.
The minister explained that the Gram Panchayat officials who are undertaking the exercise have been told to ensure that genuine beneficiaries are not deprived of their rights while options were kept open for new applications of eligible candidates.
“Options have been kept open for those are still out of the list but eligible as per the guidelines. Strict instructions have been given to them to verify the ineligible candidates,” Sahoo said.
On the other hand, the minister said after the whole exercise is completed, the government will ponder over the issue of the erring persons who forged data to get advantage of the government scheme.
“The process will go on till August 31 and afterwards we can come out with a full list of fake beneficiaries under the scheme. Then only we can decide what action should be taken against them. Various departments could be consulted before arriving at the final decision,” Sahu said.
The beneficiaries are entitled to get Rs 5,000 per crop under the programme. The “ineligible beneficiaries will not get the second installment” of the financial assistance of Rs 5,000 under the scheme, Sahu added.