Biju Pucca Ghar row: Divergent data raise eyebrows

Bhubaneswar: Following the controversy over Odisha government’s claim of constructing 10 lakh houses under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) in past two years, the divergence between data announced by the CM Naveen Patnaik and the facts provided by the Panchayatiraj department has further raised eyebrows.

Investigations conducted by OTV revealed that the Panchayatiraj department’s website shows that only 426 houses have been built by the government under BPGY. However, on the other hand, a press note released by the CM’s office in May 2016 claimed that 10 lakh houses have been built in the past 2 years under BPGY and they have been officially dedicated to the public.

However, the Panchayatiraj department’s website shows that only 426 houses have been built in 2016-17 against targeted 93,063 houses. Moreover, the figures under Indira Awas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are even more startling. Against a targeted 2,96,127 houses, not a single unit has been built.

“Every year 1 lakh houses under BPGY are given to beneficiaries and all put together 3 lakh BPGY and rest IAY houses have been constructed. We have constructed 10 lakh houses under rural housing schemes,” said Panchayatiraj minister, Arun Sahoo on December 12, 2016.

Also Read: Odisha govt built 7 lakh pucca houses in 5 months!

As per the minister, in the past 3 years 3 lakh BPGY houses and the rest under other schemes have been constructed. Now looking at the data from the Panchayatiraj department, a total of 8,43,582 houses under IAY and 1,56,437 houses under BPGY have been built from FY 2014-15 and May 2016.

There is gross divergence between BPGY data of Panchayatiraj minister, the department’s website, CM’s office and the government advertisement.

“By adding the houses constructed under IAY of all years, they are claiming that 10 lakh houses have been constructed under BPGY. This is completely misleading,” said Opposition leader, Narsingh Mishra.

“The CM is a trader of false information. In the past 3 years, only 1,40,000 houses have been constructed under BPGY. The CM is misleading the people in his campaigns and advertisements and is portraying the constructions under central schemes as that of state government’s own,” said Odisha BJP president, Basant Panda.

Further clarifying the government’s claim, Arun Sahoo today said “We have said that under the rural housing schemes – BPGY and IAY- the State government has constructed 10 lakh houses.”