Suryap

Bhubaneswar: With the general elections around the corner, the Odisha government today stated that beneficiaries of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme will get cash transfers till March 31.

Citing that 1-2% farmers of the State have been left out under the KALIA scheme, Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said the government will take necessary steps to include these farmers under the State-sponsored scheme.

Behera also hit out at the Centre and said, “Odisha government does not have clarity on why three to four lakh farmers have been excluded from the list that has been sent to the Centre for enrolment under the PM-KISAN Yojana. Besides, the Centre should consider the State’s proposal to include economically weaker and landless farmers under the scheme. If all these issues are addressed, the State government will be able to cooperate with the Centre properly.”

Responding to the allegations, BJP's Odisha unit vice president, Samir Mohanty said the ruling party, through the KALIA Scheme, has made an arrangement to provide money to party men ahead of the polls.

“The KALIA scheme is an arrangement to make online transfers to party men ahead of the polls and influence the voters. This is another way of cheating farmers,” Mohanty added.

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