Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader and Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan Wednesday slammed BJD government for not allotting land in the Barunei foothills in Khurda to set up a memorial to the historic Paika rebellion.
Pradhan mocked the state government saying it has land for setting up a beer factory but not for a Paika rebellion memorial.
Through the Centre has repeatedly requested the state to make available 50 acres for construction of the memorial, the latter is yet to provide it, he said while addressing a meeting at the 119th birth anniversary celebration of former chief minister Harekrushna Mahatab here at the Lower PMG square.
“The state government failed to provide 50 acres of land for the memorial despite repeated requests from the Union government. But, you (the chief minister) provided 600 acres for a beer factory for which thousands of trees were cut down in Dhenkanal,” rued the Union minister.
Stating that he and the Prime Minister had written a letter to the Chief Minister two years ago requesting him to provide land for the memorial, the Union Minister said he knows that the former dislikes him. “After all, Naveen Babu hails from a great family and I am from an ordinary farmer’s family,” he pointed out.
Pradhan also criticised the state government for not giving permission to install a statue of Harekrushna Mahatab at his village in Agarpada of Bhadrak district.
Speaking on the occasion, senior BJP leader Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said the proposed memorial will have the statues of the renowned freedom fighter Buxi Jagabandhu, Jai Rajguru and other Paika leaders who had sacrificed their lives to drive out the Britishers from Odisha during the historic Paika rebellion in 1817. Apart from this, a museum will also be set up on the proposed land.
“I don’t understand why the Chief Minister is yet to take a decision on this matter. We request him to give up his self-centred attitude and immediately allot land for the memorial,” Harichandan said.
Reacting to the charges, BJD leader and Tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda said the state government has taken up a slew of projects in several blocks of Khurda district as part of the bicentenary celebration of the Paika rebellion.
Hitting out at the Centre, Panda said the state government had submitted a detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed memorial to the Centre a year ago. But, the Centre is still sitting on it. “Why has the Centre remained silent and why is the Union Minister not pursuing the matter with the government of India?” Panda asked.
Paika rebellion, also known as Paika Bidroha, was an armed rebellion against the British East India Company’s rule in Odisha in 1817. The Centre and state are commemorating 200 years of the rebellion with a series of events.