BHUBANESWAR: AS anticipated the direct transfer of money under the much-publicised farmers’ income augmentation scheme - KALIA - allegedly without proper verification of beneficiaries has become a headache for Odisha Government.
While the State has already provided assistance to over 51 lakh beneficiaries, including landless farmers and agricultural workers, the Government believes several ineligible people have received money meant for farmers, who fulfil certain fixed criteria.
The Agriculture Department has planned a three-tier verification process. The window for verification of beneficiaries which was initially till Wednesday has been extended up to August 27 at the panchayat level, August 29 at the block level and August 31 at the district level.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Arun Kumar Sahu said the officials are working overtime to verify the genuineness of beneficiaries and the deadline has been extended as verification requires more time.
“Of 51 lakh farmers and farm workers who have benefited so far, 13 lakh have been verified. It is a good sign that people those who consider themselves ineligible are approaching for deletion of their names. The list of beneficiaries have been displayed at Panchayat offices so that anyone can point out the names of ineligible beneficiaries,” he said.
The Minister warned that if more than one person from one family is found to have received the assistance and the ineligible beneficiaries have not refunded the money, the eligible one from the family will not get the second installment.
“Officials entrusted with verification job will be held accountable if any discrepancy is found after the verification process,” he added.
Sources said at least 19 panchayats from Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Sonepur, Sundargarh and Malkangiri districts have less number of beneficiaries compared to other panchayats. Ganjam district tops the list.
At a high-level review meeting here on Tuesday, the Minister has asked Agriculture Director to identify eligible beneficiaries and collect applications from them within the given deadline. Deputy Director Agriculture on the districts concerned have been directed to visit the panchayats and find out the reasons
Apart from review on verification of KALIA beneficiaries, crop weather, field visit of senior officials, new agricultural policy and cyclone compensation package were also discussed at the meeting.