Odisha govt hijacking Central housing scheme, alleges BJP

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 29:

Odisha unit of BJP today accused BJD led Odisha Government of hijacking various schemes of the Central Government including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and presenting them as BJD's own to mislead the public.

Addressing a presser at BJP state headquarters, state unit Vice President Samir Mohanty today alleged that the State Government has presented misleading information pertaining to the housing scheme funded by the Union Government and presented it as their own before the panchayat polls to gain political mileage for Biju Janata Dal.

“The State Government has removed the ‘pradhan mantri’ part from the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to make it only ‘awas yojana’. This has been done deliberately to mislead the public and make it appear as a scheme of the State Government,” said Mohanty.

“Besides, they have presented incorrect data on the Biju Pakka Ghar Yojana of the State Government. As many as 80 percent of the houses built under this scheme have been funded by the Central Government. The government now boasts of 10 lakh houses built under this scheme in the past two years. This is a lie as proven from the data presented in the Assembly. Replying to a question of BJP MLA Dillip Ray, the Panchayati Raj Department made it clear that it is still collecting data on the houses constructed under this scheme,” he added.

Replying to the allegation, Biju Janata Dal Spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said, “more than who funded, what matters is if the project has been implemented. The names of the schemes do not matter to the poor, the houses built do”.

It may be mentioned here that such allegations against BJD are nothing new. The party was earlier accused of hijacking Union Government’s subsidies and presenting it as Rs 1 rice scheme of the State Government.

Besides, painting 108 ambulances in party colours and using State Government emblem in violation against the established norms caused quite a stir forcing the state to redo the designs on the ambulances.