Bhubaneswar: Amid the allegations leveled by the State BJP of the Odisha government hijacking Central schemes, the Centre has now asked the State government to refrain from co-branding PMAY-G houses with the logo of the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY), which would result in the misinterpretation of the scheme by the beneficiaries.
In a letter to the Odisha Chief Secretary, the principal secretary of Ministry of Rural Development, Nagendra Nath Sinha stated that the PMAY-G, which is a centrally sponsored scheme, should be implemented in its original form only.
"The use of the state scheme, i.e., BPGY logo is not permissible under the provisions of the PMAY-G, I would, therefore, once again request you to use official logo of the PMAY-G only," the letter read.
Sinha further stated the scheme should be implemented in its original form under the name of PMAY-G and no other name can be appended.
The ministry had also conveyed all the States/UTs in the past to use only the official logo of PMAY-G, he said.
Sinha further pointed out that the State had agreed to implement the Central scheme with the contribution of its own minimum share and doesn't confer the rights for use of any other logo other than PMAY-G.
"This will also lead to misinterpretation of the scheme among the PMAY-G beneficiaries about the benefits of the scheme,” he added further.
The issue was highlighted by the State unit of BJP alleging that the Odisha government had tried to hijack the Central scheme by pasting sticker of BPGY on the wall of the houses constructed under PMAY. At a press conference, the party had raised the issue and protested in various blocks across the State in December last year.
Later, a party delegation led by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Pradipta Naik had also submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Prof Ganeshi Lal in this regard.
Similarly, a team of BJP MPs from Odisha led by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had met Union Panchayati Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Delhi on February 12 seeking his intervention in the matter.