Orissa to include 10 lakh BPL families under state list

Bhubaneswar, May 16 (UNI) Orissa government today decided in principle to include more than 10 lakh families under the state BPL list and provide them with all assistance meant for BPL families from its own resources.

The ten lakh families would be included if they were excluded from the 1997 BPL list due to the implementation of a formula made by the Centre.

State Panchayat Raj Minister Raghunath Mohanty told newspersons here that the state government had earmarked Rs 206 crore in the current budget for the implementation of ''Mo Kudia'' in place of Indira Awas Yojana, ''Madhu Babu Pension Scheme'' in place of old age pension and prodive BPL rice to the people.

While Rs 100 crore would be spent for the implementation of'Mo Kudia', Rs 33 crore would be spent for providing rice to the BPL families and Rs 73 crore for the implementation of the Madhu Babu pension scheme, the minister said.

Mr Mohanty said as per the 1997 survey 44,93,410 families were below the poverty line which was in force till now.

But in 2002 a list of 78.73 lakh families was prepared after conducting a survey of the economic condition of each family.

As per the formula prepared by the Planning Commission, the union government had directed the state to limit the number of BPL families within 34.63 lakh.

But the state government vehimently opposed the reduction on the ground that if the direction of the union government was implemented it would deprive more than 10 lakh poor families of various facilities meant for them.

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