BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Tuesday hit out at the ruling BJD for making tall claims on development while accusing it of failing on all fronts. “This is a failed government projecting a rosy picture by putting wrong things in the Governor’s mouth,” State BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty said.
Dismissing the claim of the State Government on rural housing front, Mohanty said BJD has been trying to mislead the people by providing false data. The State Government has hijacked the Centre’s housing scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’ (PMAY) and mixed it up with State’s Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana to take credit for it.
The Governor in his address to the Assembly said more than 15.50 lakh pucca houses have been constructed for the rural poor while the State is working on mission mode to ensure pucca houses to all by 2019.In May 2016, the State Government had claimed of constructing 10 lakh pucca houses in just two years while the then Panchayati Raj Minister had told the Assembly during winter session of the Assembly in 2015 that construction of 3.02 lakh houses were completed by December which included 57,538 under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and 2,44,795 under PMAY.
If the Government’s claim of constructing 5.5 lakh houses in the last two years is true, it must tell the people about its contribution towards the housing sector, Mohanty said.The BJP leader said the Centre has allocated `3,100 crore for 2.6 lakh housing units in the State for the current fiscal. The State Government has not made any provision for rural housing under BPGY. It is trying to take credit for the Central scheme, he added.
Lambasting the State Government’s claim for doubling farmer’s income, Mohanty said the condition of farmers remained miserable and many distressed farmers committed suicide due to crop loss and debt burden. Though the BJD promised to irrigate 10 lakh hectares in five years, barely one lakh hectare had been irrigated in last four years. Its promise to provide irrigation to at least 35 per cent land in each block remained unfulfilled even after 18 years.