New Delhi: Describing the Naveen Patnaik government as 'inefficient' and 'bankrupt', senior BJP leader and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan today questioned the figures on the success of his government trotted out by the Chief Minister yesterday.
Pooh-poohing the state government's claim of having constructed 10 lakh houses for the poor, Pradhan said the state Panchayati Raj minister, in a statement in the State Assembly in December last year, had stated that the state government had constructed 3,02,033 houses in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 fiscal.
“What magic wand did the government suddenly discover that it managed to construct nearly seven lakh more houses in the next five months by May? Let the chief minister furnish the details of these seven lakh houses in the district, block and village level,” he demanded.
The Union minister further said the number of houses allotted to Odisha under the earlier Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) had almost trebled during the BJP government under its Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Besides, the cost of each house under the Central scheme, which was Rs 70,000 earlier had been raised to Rs 1.5 lakh. “The money provided for the Indira Awas is by the Centre, not the Odisha government,” he said.
On the claim of the state government that it had implemented the National Food Security Act (NFSA) as per the Central guidelines, Pradhan said the government had failed to bring out an error-free list of NFSA beneficiaries in a single district in the state.
The minister said as per the information it has furnished in the State Assembly, the state government had provided electricity to nearly three lakh BPL families, which is only 59 percent of the total BPL families in the state. "This speaks volume about its gross failure in providing electricity to all BPL families in its 16-year rule, he said.
Responding to the objection of the state government on the hike in Service Tax, Pradhan said; "Does the chief minister want that the farmers of the state should not be given financial security through better insurance coverage? Can the state government say that it has no share on the cess? If the state government has moral obligations, let it be honest in its statement.”
Pradhan said that the state government is unable to spend even 50 percent of the Central assistance for development of agriculture sector.
Talking about irrigation, he said there had been no irrigation through the left and right canal of the Rengali dam till date. Besides, there had been no progress in the Lower Suktel irrigation project in Balangir district while irrigation project in Nuapada district is yet to be completed.
“I had told the chief minister that if he does not have the guts to give to furnish the details on the performance of his government to the people of Odisha, then at least he should tell the media. Yesterday, the chief minister, without answering to the questions of the media, had furnished some information, which I think is one-sided and misleading,” Pradhan said.
"It would have been better if the chief minister had invited questions from the media and replied on the performance of his departments. Instead of doing this, he gave one-sided glorifying statement in favour of his government. This is the attitude of an inefficient and bankrupt government,” he said.
Countering Pradhan’s statement, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said it seems that the BJP leader had become 'intellectually bankrupt'.
“The Union minister should have at least gone through the RBI guidelines and report before giving such statement to the media,” he noted.
On the issue of construction of houses for the poor, he said the Union Rural Development additional secretary has recently praised the performance of the state government in this regard. “Let Pradhan crosscheck the fact with the Rural Development ministry to clear his doubts,” he added.
Talking about rural electrification in the state, Deb said the Centre should not claim credit for the fact that 18000 villages in the state had been provided electricity in five years.
Taking a dig at the Centre, the BJD leader asked; "Has it enhanced financial allocation for the state in agriculture, education and woman and child development?
On the farmers’ issue, he said the Centre is only shedding crocodile tears without making any tangible effort for their upliftment.
In his reaction, BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab said he has heard the press briefing of the chief minister and found that he had not made any comments against the Centre. In fact, he had presented all pragmatic aspects relating to the performance of the state government.
Talking about the Centre, which has imposed 0.4 cess on Service Tax, he said not only Odisha, several other states and political parties in the country have given their opinion against the decision of the Centre.