Direct cash transfer system in Odisha from July: Union Min

Bhubaneswar: The Central government is likely to start its ambitious direct cash transfer scheme in Odisha from July, said Union minister Srikant Jena after a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

“The second phase of the scheme, which is expected to start in July, will cover 78 districts of the country including 2-3 districts of Odisha,” said the minister.

With this, 120 districts, or around one-fifth of the country, will see direct cash transfer to bank accounts of beneficiaries. The first phase of the programme covered 45 districts of the country.

Though the cash subsidy system was started by the central government in January this year, none of the districts of Odisha was covered in the first phase.

On Friday, the prime minister accepted that the direct cash transfer could not be implemented in several places due to a number of operational issues - including that of digitising data, enrolling beneficiaries in Aadhaar and the opening of bank accounts among others.