Naveen Patnaik government under fire over gaps in plan for poor

BHUBANESWAR: The recent admission by the Odisha government that a massive 2.66 lakh or around 10 per cent of the beneficiaries under its game-changer Kalia scheme are ineligible has put the ruling BJD in a fix, with the Opposition BJP and Congress planning to pull up the state administration on the issue.

According to state agriculture minister Arun Sahoo, of the 51 lakh beneficiaries under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme, the verification process for 36.88 lakh has already been completed so far. Verification of the remaining beneficiaries at panchayat level will be completed by the end of current month.

The scheme was launched a few days before the 2019 polls by the Odisha government to with plea to gear up growth in the agriculture sector and alleviate the poverty rate in the state.

The Opposition, however, had smelt a rat in rolling out of the scheme.