‘Jabab Maguchhi Odisha’, Retorts Naveen While Seeking Financial Autonomy

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged the Centre to accord financial autonomy to Odisha.

“We neither want special state category status nor financial assistance from the Centre. The development of Odisha would be taken up with the people’s money. Give us the financial autonomy,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a function on the occasion of the 21^st Foundation Day of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) here.

Giving the BJP-led government at the Centre a taste of its own medicine, ‘Jabab Maguchhi Odisha’, Naveen posed nine following questions and sought clarification.

–The condition of the National Highways in Odisha is precarious and the Centre has not taken any steps in this regard.

—The Odisha government had urged the Centre to improve the BSNL network in the state. The plight of the network is so poor that one has to go either to the rooftop of a house or climb trees to avail the network. It seems that one has to learn the art of climbing the trees if he/she is keen on owning a mobile phone.

—The Khurda-Balangir railway project is all set to create history. The railway project is yet to be completed though the state government has provided land free of cost and contributed half of the project cost.

—The demonetisation drive of the Centre has severely affected the economy and livelihood of the the people of Odisha. Besides, the people are deprived of proper banking facility in rural areas.

—The farmers of the state are deprived of crop loan while the private insurance companies in the state are making huge profits.

–The Centre has slashed the post-matric scholarship funds for the SC and ST students since last two years.

–The much-vaunted Ujjwala Yojana of the Centre is a failure in Odisha as the beneficiaries are not able to afford the high cost in refilling the LPG cylinder.

–The Central government undertaking Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) has an annual turnover of Rs 20,000 crore. In return, it gives pollution to the state.

—While the annual revenue turnover of the Railways in Odisha is Rs 20,000 crore, but the revenue share of Odisha is only Rs 2000 crore.

A couple of days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi posed several questions over the performance of the ruling BJD during his one-day visit to Odisha, the BJP’s youth wing on Wednesday started ‘Jabab Maguchhi Odisha’ campaign.

According to State BJYM president Tankadhar Tripathy, failures of the state government will be highlighted during the campaign and lies told by the BJD through advertisements will be exposed, while allowing people to seek answers to their problems and issues.