Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik Wednesday accused the BJD government of misutilising the contingency fund meant for emergency expenditure during natural calamities like flood, cyclone or drought.
Patnaik alleged that the state government with the approval of the Governor had withdrawn more than Rs 700 crore from the Contingency fund to influence the voters before the upcoming election.
The Finance department has released the amount Tuesday, he said.
The Congress chief apprehended that the contingency fund would be distributed to the potential voters through the newly launched KALIA scheme by the government.
He came down heavily on the government’s decision to misuse the contingency fund at a time when the people affected by flood, cyclone and drought years back had not yet received the compensation for the damage caused by natural calamity.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched a Rs 10,000-crore Kalia scheme to provide monetary benefits to the sharecroppers, small and marginal farmers in the state.