BALASORE: BJP’s Balasore Lok Sabha candidate Pratap Chandra Sarangi on Thursday assured to revive sick industries in the district. Addressing mediapersons, Sarangi said industries like Baliapal spinning mill and Birla tyre factory in Bamapada are in ruins owing to the apathy of the state government.
Blaming the government and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the state of affairs, he said not a single industry has been set up in the district in the last 25 years of BJD’s rule in Odisha due to which youth are forced to look for jobs in other states.
“The chief minister is just like a rubber stamp. A man from Tamil Nadu is running the government in Odisha which is largely dependent on Andhra Pradesh for fulfilling most of its needs,” he said, adding most of the labourers and machines used in projects across the state are being imported from Tamil Nadu. The MP said the state government has deprived people of the state of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme which provides healthcare benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh to the beneficiaries.
“Houses under the Central government’s scheme are yet to reach real beneficiaries in the district. The houses are being given to BJD workers even as beneficiaries are yet to avail it despite being eligible for the scheme,” he said. Sarangi further blamed the state government for shortage of drinking water in rural areas and lack of irrigation facilities for farmers. “Even as the majority of Subarnarekha river flows in Balasore, the farmers of the district are still struggling to irrigate their land,” he said.
The senior BJP leader said the Central government allocated Rs 200 crore development of Balasore railway station and more funds will be allotted for renovation of other stations in the district and Mayurbhanj. He said a double-engine government will benefit people of Odisha. BJP state spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra, district president Umakanta Mohapatra along with party workers attended the press meet.