The Meghalaya Chief Minister – Conrad Sangma on Tuesday asserted that the financial assistance provided to cultivators under the state government schemes cannot be cited as “a loan”.

He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is attempting to mislead the beneficiaries by claiming the same.

An ally of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), the BJP party claimed that Rs 5,000 given to farmers ahead of the assembly election due on 2023 is actually a loan and the beneficiaries will have to repay it to banks.

“The money given is not a loan but an annual grant of 4.5 lakh farmers if they register themselves in farmers’ groups,” Sangma noted.

He stated that 25,000 such groups have been registered till date.

“It is completely wrong to mislead farmers and drag the scheme for its (BJP’s) political gains. About Rs 450 crore was allocated for these (FOCUS and FOCUS+) schemes and not Rs 1500 crore as alleged,” Sangma said.

The CM asserted that Rs 5000 is distributed to a group of farmers and individual farmers under the FOCUS and FOCUS+ schemes respectively. Altogether 4.5 lakh families will be benefitted from the schemes.

Sangma remarked that the scheme is making a huge impact at the grass-root level improving the livelihood of the marginalized farmers.