Bhubaneswar: The state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday objected the Odisha government’s plan to take credit for pucca houses built in the state under Central schemes.
BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan Wednesday objected to the new plan of the state government to paste posters on pucca houses built under schemes of the Centre. He said, “The state government had started setting wrong precedence by pasting the posters of their own on the houses constructed under central scheme. People are now fumed with the malpractices. Many villagers are asking such people in the government to go back.”
He also said, “We are going to protest against the proposed plan of the government to have joint posters of the Centre and the state on the works done under Central schemes. We will continue our fight against this. The Chief Minister has planned to mislead the people on the issue. The government now plans to send letters to the beneficiaries from the CM. We want such misleading letters be taken back.”
Harichandan said that the party wanted that the government must clarify as to which houses were built under which scheme and the new plan of revised posters is likely to add more burden on the financial health of the government. “It has already spent funds on the older posters. Earlier, the government has already spent upto Rs 10 crore on the works,” he said.
The BLP leader said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to provide pucca houses to all and actions are now being taken on the same accordingly. He requested the state to help in achieving the target.
The BJD, however, countered the allegations. BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said, “Odisha provides almost the same amount of financial resources/funds that the Centre provides for the housing programmes in Odisha. The success of having built 20 lakh houses in only 5 years by the BJD government has unnerved the BJP in Odisha.”
He also added, “Harichandan’s statement is a reflection of the fear and anger within Odisha BJP relating to the success of the pro-poor, pro-people housing development programmes in Odisha under leadership of CM Naveen Patnaik.”