JAGATSINGHPUR: Seventy-year-old Gopinath Moharana, a farmer from Manadashai village under Jagatsinghpur block, has been slapped a notice to refund the Rs 5,000 assistance he received under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme last year. He does not know how to react.
Interestingly, when the assistance was credited to his account last year, he was taken by surprise because he claims not to have even enrolled himself. But he went ahead and spent the money on his cropland. “The Covid-19 situation has cast a cloud on survival and I somehow arranged money for my crop. Now the Government wants its money back. How do I arrange Rs 5,000?” he wonders.
Not just Moharana, many farmers in Jagatsinghpur district were in for a rude shock after they received notice for recovery of financial assistance they had received last year under KALIA scheme after the Agriculture department ineligible farmers would have to refund the money within a month. Coming at a time when farmers are struggling to survive, this has added to distress.
Sources said, Agriculture Department has served notice to 3,240 ‘ineligible’ farmers in the district on the basis of being in government service, paying income tax, having more than five acres of land and no ration card.
With disruption in farming and marketing activities due to the lockdown, small farmers were anticipating hardships. Most had borrowed money from private moneylenders and other sources to grow paddy for the kharif season. Now, they have an additional burden to pay back the Government within a short window of time. Many claim that the identification process of ineligible beneficiary is also wrong.
Pradipta Kumar Senapati, farmer from Sidhal village, had cultivated nearly 20 to 25 decimals of land on sharecropping basis. He also holds a ration card. Now he is wondering why he has been deemed ineligible. “I spent the amount on cultivation and am in no position to pay back,” he laments. The notification has triggered a similar backlash from others.
Sarpanch of Uttarsasan Silpa Sahu says nearly 20 poor farmers of Biridi block who tick all the eligibility criteria for KALIA have been declared ineligible by the notification. “It would be befitting if the refund is demanded from officials who are responsible for such discrepancies,” she suggested.
Meanwhile, Chief District Agriculture Officer Rabi Narayan Mohapatra said the department had provided financial assistance to 1.19 lakh farmers in two phases but has issued notification to 3,240 ineligible farmers for refund as they do not fulfill certain conditions. “We are convincing them to refund the money,” he added.