Bhubaneswar: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pointed out several irregularities in the implementation of KALIA scheme for farmers by the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in Odisha.

The CAG pointed out the irregularities pertaining to the cash assistance scheme in its report for the year ending on March 31, 2022. The report was tabled in the Odisha Assembly today.

The BJD government had approved the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme in December, 2018.

The aim of the scheme was to accelerate agricultural prosperity and reduce poverty among the cultivators.

The state government implemented the KALIA scheme from December 21, 2018 without conducting a proper feasibility study, revealed the CAG report.

Due to inadequate planning, of the six components of the scheme, only two components—support to cultivators for cultivation and livelihood support for landless agricultural households—were implemented during 2018-21, said the report.

The state government had provided cash assistance to 65.64 lakh beneficiaries during 2019-21. However, as many as 9.76 lakh ineligible beneficiaries were identified during the implementation of the scheme.

Subsequent audits also detected 2.96 lakh additional ineligible beneficiaries. Thus, the total number of ineligible beneficiaries went up to 12.72 lakh.

The state government had transferred the cash assistance to the tune of Rs 782.26 crore to the bank accounts of ineligible beneficiaries, said the CAG report.

Besides, payment of Rs 107.64 crore was released to 1.28 lakh account holders in which the names of account holders were different from names of the beneficiaries indicating payment to unauthorised persons, revealed the report.

The CAG report claimed that the state government did not provide complete data on KALIA scheme despite repeated requests in this regard.

“Out of the total disbursement of Rs 9,333.01 crore, an amount of Rs 2,060.29 crore pertaining to the year 2021-22 could not be analyzed in the absence of proper data and information,” said the report.