Bhubaneswar/Nabarangpur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday slammed BJD leader and Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board Sanjay Das Burma for using a helicopter to return to Bhubaneswar from Nabarangpur.
As per reports, Burma was recently on a visit to several southern Odisha districts and returned to Bhubaneswar from Nabarangpur in a chopper on July 18.
BJP leader Balabhadra Majhi said, "At a time when the Odisha government is making tall claims of cost-cutting during the COVID-19 crisis, what urgency forced Burma to hire a chopper to return to Bhubaneswar. Though the Deputy Chairman's tour has been tagged as a part of the government programme, it was actually a party (BJD) programme."
Majhi also accused Burma of violating COVID-19 norms during his tour and asked who will bear the cost of Burma's ‘so-called’ government tour. "The government should clarify who is going to bear the expenses - the BJD or the State government itself."
Responding to the allegations, Burma said, "It's unfortunate that attempts are being made to give political colour to the incident that had happened three days back."
During this time of crisis, people's representatives should refrain from politicising things and come forward to help each other and work in the interest of people, added Burma.
Amid this political jibing, the Naveen Patnaik-led government has also been accused of putting the future of youth at stake by announcing that no new posts will be created in the government departments (except the Health & Family Welfare Department) for the next two years.
Both the BJP and the Congress recently accused the State government of being involved in rampant corruption and alleged that retired officers are being re-engaged to several departments like Mines to loot people’s money.
However, the ruling party had refuted the allegations and claimed that several legal factors and the need for continuity of an officer in a particular department necessitate such re-appointments.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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