Bhubaneswar Mayor Questions Success Of Subhadra Yojana In Odisha; Deputy CM Hits Back

Bhubaneswar: Even as Odisha government’s ambitious Subhadra Yojana drew overwhelming response from the women, Bhubaneswar (BMC) Mayor Sulochana Das raised questions over the successful implementation of the welfare scheme.

Skeptical over the scheme and its implementation, Sulochana said many women are coming to with with doubts about the scheme and the process of submission of application.

Though the state government has set a target to include more than one crore women under the scheme, there has been a lukewarm response as less than 50 lakh women have so far applied for the scheme, she said.

Underlining the need to take steps for clarifying the doubts in the minds of women, Mayor said that the beneficiaries should be told about how they can utilise Rs 5000 of one instalment in order to become self-reliant as they are not trained.

Besides launching awareness drives, the government must make sincere efforts to impart proper training to the applicants, the BJD leader said, adding that the applicants also should know how to utilise the money for their benefit. She also sought to know the future of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the state.

Reacting sharply to the Mayor’s remarks, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, who holds the Women and Child Development portfolio, said that the opposition knows how to criticise.

While the opposition is there to criticise, it is the duty and responsibility of the government to ensure that the promises made to the people are fulfilled, she said.

Referring to the SHGs, the Deputy CM said the scheme for these groups is very much there and it will continue in the future.

Stressing that the SHG scheme and the Mission Shakti department continue to operate in the state, the Deputy CM said 70 lakh women were earlier included in the scheme and the BJP government is adding over one crore beneficiaries.

Stating that more than 60 lakh women have already applied for Subhadra Yojana so far, Parida sought to know what is wrong with the scheme which seeks to make more than one crore women self-reliant in the state.