BHUBANESWAR: Senior Congress leader from Keonjhar and former president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Jayadev Jena on Wednesday came down heavily on the BJP for forgetting promises it made for development of the district after coming to power.
Addressing a media conference here, Jena criticised the state government over a recent incident involving a 70-year-old woman of Raisuan village of Keonjhar who crawled more than two km to the panchayat office to collect old-age pension.
Such an incident in the home district of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi is unfortunate, he said.
“The chief minister had promised to bring mega industries to the district during campaign in 2024 election. However, there was no allocation for completion of the Kanpur irrigation project located at Champua in the 2024-25 state budget though Majhi holds the irrigation portfolio,” he said.
Jena further said Keonjhar has been neglected by successive governments over the years. There are only 141 government doctors in the district for 18 lakh people. Similarly, there are no teachers in 19 primary schools. At least 380 primary schools are being run by single teacher, he alleged.
The former OPCC president said people of the district have a right to know about the projects on which Rs 1,600 crore DMF funds collected from the district were spent.