Politics In Odisha Heats Up Over KALIA, PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Schemes

Bhubaneswar: A day after assistance under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna and the State-sponsored KALIA scheme distributed among the farmers, politics in the State heated up over the two agricultural schemes on Saturday.

Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJD government, BJP alleged that many farmers in the State are being deprived of the advantages of the centrally-sponsored scheme as the Odisha government is not providing the list of beneficiaries to the Union government. 

“There is no problem for the Central government to provide assistance to the farmers of the country. Odisha has no clue as to how many sharecroppers and landless farmers are there in the State. There are many small farmers in the State who are deprived of getting Rs 6,000 assistance under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi yojna. What is the problem in sharing the list of such farmers to the centre,” questioned State BJP Kisan Morcha President, Pradip Purohit.

Echoing a similar view, senior Congress leader and MLA Santosh Singh Saluja said, “Earlier the State government had released a list of 51 lakh beneficiaries and now the number has come down to 42 lakh. The State government should provide the list of beneficiaries to the Centre which will help the farmers of all sections to get the benefits of the centrally-sponsored scheme. This is in the interest of farmers and hence, it shouldn’t be politicised.”

Responding to the allegations, senior BJD leader Amar Satpathy said, “In a mark of respect to the farmers, we have been organising ‘Krushak Diwas’ since 2000. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned an assistance of Rs 820 crore for as many as 42 lakh farmers and the amount has been credited to their accounts.”