Bhawanipatana: Amid intensive campaign by the state government to ensure effective implementation of KALIA, the Congress is sceptical of its benefits reaching all sections of farmers in Kalahandi district.
“Most farmers in Kalahandi will not be able to draw benefits from KALIA,” asserted former minister Rasbihari Behera and Jagannath Patnaik.
The two Congress leaders observed that due to the eligibility criteria as fixed by the state government, farmers belonging to ST, Dalit and other backward communities in hilly remote areas like T. Rampur, M. Rampur, Lanjigarh, Narla and Koksara will not be benefited.
They pointed out, the state government has mandated that the farmers having over five acres of land will not be eligible to avail of KALIA benefits.
The farmlands in these hilly plains are full of stones and boulders and farming is solely dependent on rains. A family of ST and Dalit farmers hardly gets Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 annually from raising crops like oats and horse gram from 5 to 10 acres of land. Despite having 10 acres of land, their income is not enough to keep their pots boiling, the Congress leaders said.
The state government needs to relax land criterion and set a benchmark for lands, particularly in these hilly pockets, they said, adding the income generated from irrigated farmlands cannot be compared with that of land without irrigation facility.
The Congress leaders said the state government should stop misleading the farmers; instead, it should consider farm loan waiver.
PNN