Odisha Govt Hijacks Central Funds For ‘Counter’ Schemes To Survive, Claims BJP

Bhubaneswar: Mounting a scathing attack on Odisha’s BJD government, BJP on Thursday accused it of hijacking Central funds to launch a host of ‘counter schemes’, but posting a dismal show in implementing these programmes.

Addressing a press meet in Bhubaneswar, state BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal alleged that the state government has been launching a number of schemes parallel to popular  programmes launched by the Centre.

The BJD government has been diverting Central funds to run these ‘counter schemes’ in its bid to survive, he claimed.

Coming down heavily on the state government, Biswal asked it to give the exact status on the implementation of 13 schemes introduced in the state which are akin to Central programmes.

Noting that the Central government has already provided 28 lakh houses to the people of Odisha under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY), the BJP leader said 18 lakh of these houses have already been constructed, while 9.58 lakh were sanctioned.

The state government made, which introduced Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) to provide houses to left-out beneficiaries, has provided only 3,000 housed in three years, Biswal alleged, adding that BPGY is meant to promote BJD by diverting stealing PMAY funds.

The BJP leader also slammed the state government over State Food Security Scheme and said it was launched to counter the National Food Security Act and divert Central funds.

He said the Odisha government is providing free rice to only 8 lakh people even though it told the Assembly that it will provide rice to 25 lakh people. Biswal sought to know if the government is giving 10 kg of rice to each beneficiary as claimed by it.

Referring to power, he said all revenue villages in Oidha have been connected with electricity under Central programme.  As many as 25,52,000 households have provided with free electricity under the SAUBHAGYA Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana. He wanted to know how many hamlets have been connected with electritity under Biju Gram Yoti Yojana launched by the state government.

Statign that 20,500 km roads have been constructed in Odisha under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana, Biswal said the state government introduced a similar scheme named Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana in 2015 with a target to construct 10,000 km roads in rural areas in 10 years.

Eight years have already passed since CMGSY was launched, but only 3,600 km roads have been constructed so far, he said, adding this means the state government has constructed only 450 km roads against a target of 1000 km per year.

The BJP leader further said that tap water has already reached 57 per cent households in Odisha under the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Centre. Last year, Odisha had been given Rs 6,000 crore and a provision of Rs 5,900 crore made in this year’s Union Budget under the scheme, he said.

As a counter scheme to the Jal Jeevan Mission, the state government also brought a new scheme named BASUDHA Yojana, he said, and sought to know as to know how many families have been provided tapped water under this scheme by the state government.