RAIPUR: The smartphones, preloaded with Modi and Raman apps, which the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh distributed to people, failed to ring in another five-year term for the BJP.
Now, the new Congress dispensation has hung up on the scheme.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has directed all the district collectors to suspend the distribution of smartphones under the ambitious Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY) launched by the previous government a few months before the Assembly elections.
Under the scheme, 50 lakh 4G smartphones were to be distributed free of cost to students, urban poor and rural women across the state th.
“The scheme should be halted with immediate effect. The government will take a suitable decision on the scheme later,” Baghel reportedly told the collectors during his first meeting with them through video-conferencing.
Around 29 lakh smartphones were doled out before the polls, but another 11 lakh phones could not be distribute owing to the model code of conduct kicking in and are now lying in godowns.
“The Congress knew the SKY scheme was meant to lure voters. We had repeatedly questioned the price tag of the smartphones, besides tying up with Reliance Jio instead of the state-owned BSNL for getting the services. Why should this scheme be our concern?” a senior Congress leader said.
Officials of Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, the agency which procured the phones through tender, said payment to Micromax, which supplied the handsets, had already been disbursed.