Bhubaneswar: Odisha Congress on Thursday alleged that the State government has failed to manage the issues in agriculture and education in the critical times of COVID-19.
Former Congress MLA Debashis Patnaik said that though the Odisha government is making tall claims that all arrangements have been made to teach students online, lack of network connectivity and several other factors have not been sorted out by the government.
"At several places the net connectivity is not consistent. Communication gap is also being witnessed by people. So, it's difficult for all the students to study online," said Patnaik.
Lashing out at Odisha Higher Education and Agriculture Minister, Arun Sahoo, Patnaik further alleged that the apart from the issues being faced by students, farmers in the State are also going through a tough phase and there is no support from the government.
"Sahoo is claiming that farmers have been informed online about details of farming. At a time when the farmers have no money to even take up farming activities, how can they recharge their cell phones," said Patnaik.
About 2-3 years ago, Odisha government had claimed that 60,000 mobile phones were distributed to farmers, but no one knows what happened to those phones, he said.
The Congress leader also alleged that the State government has failed to create employment opportunities for the returnees.
Responding to the allegation, senior BJD leader Sashi Bhusan Behera said, "These are common allegations. People are once again returning to other states as the companies are sending vehicles for them to return and join work."
When efforts are on to create opportunities at the grassroots level for them (migrant returnees), such allegations are unfortunate, Behera added.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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