A shocking revelation by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has exposed that over Rs 782 crore was wrongly transferred to lakhs of ineligible beneficiaries under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme during the Naveen Patnaik-led government in Odisha, highlighting a massive financial irregularity.
According to the CAG report, presented by Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi in the Assembly on Wednesday, an audit analysis of the KALIA database, cross-referenced with other databases like SECC, VAHAN, IFMS, and HRMS, revealed an additional 2.96 lakh ineligible beneficiaries, bringing the total to 12.72 lakh. Alarmingly, the Department had disbursed Rs 782.26 crore to these ineligible beneficiaries, with minimal recovery prospects.
As per the CAG report, which Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi tabled in the Assembly on September 11, “Audit also analysed the KALIA database, concerning other databases like SECC, VAHAN, IFMS and HRMS and identified another 2.96 lakh ineligible beneficiaries, bringing the total number of identified ineligible beneficiaries to 12.72 lakh. Against these 12.72 lakh ineligible beneficiaries, the Department had transferred Rs 782.26 crore, with remote chances of recovery.”
“The Department had disbursed KALIA benefit assistance to 65.64 lakh beneficiaries during 2019-21 and released instalments thrice to 41.64 lakh beneficiaries, twice to 8.09 lakh beneficiaries and only once to 15.91 lakh beneficiaries. This happened due to the identification of 9.76 lakh ineligible beneficiaries while implementing the scheme,” the report read.
The Department’s inadequate planning and preparedness hindered the effective implementation of the KALIA scheme, resulting in only two out of six components being executed between 2018-21. These components were ‘Support to cultivators for cultivation’ and ‘Livelihood support for landless agricultural households’. Moreover, as of March 2021, beneficiaries under the first component received only three out of five instalments, indicating incomplete disbursement.
According to the report, a payment of Rs 107.64 crore was released to 1.28 lakh account holders of an account which, from the beneficiaries’ names, indicates payment to unauthorised persons.
All three instalments were released to 14.04 lakh Landless Agricultural Labourers without imparting necessary training and capacity building, which defeated the scheme objectives, the CAG report revealed.
