BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Wednesday came down heavily on the State government for not preventing the agitating drivers from taking the city hostage on Monday despite having intelligence inputs on the possibility of law and order problems.
The saffron party also lashed at the BJD government for not fulfilling their genuine demands, saying they could have been easily covered by different welfare schemes of Central government. “All the demands of Odisha Drivers’ Mahasangha could have been fulfilled long back under different social security measures of the Centre. The Naveen Patnaik government has been holding out the Central schemes for fear that the credit will go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP,” State party general secretary Lekhashree Samantasinghar told a media conference here.
While the Atal Pension Scheme can take care of their pension needs, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana provides a life cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death of the insured. “If the State government has any concern for the low paid drivers, it should have covered them by paying the premium of `330 per annum per insurer,” she said.
Listing out all schemes implemented by Modi after coming to power in 2014, Samantasinghar said the drivers could have got the benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana for accident and disability benefit, Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme for old-age protection and social security of unorganised workers had the State government taken the initiative.
“It is matter of concern that the many of the agitating drivers are not covered under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna despite the Centre liberally releasing assistance to the State,” she said. All the social security schemes launched by the Prime Minister since 2014 is meant for the poor and economically backward people. However, the benefit is not reaching to intended beneficiaries due to political motive of the BJD government, she said.