BHUBANESWAR: As the BJP and BJD are engaged in a wordy duel over the use of Biju Patnaik logo on the houses of beneficiaries of the Centrally sponsored rural housing scheme, Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has taken up the issue with Rural Development Ministry asking it to restrain the State government from claiming credit for the scheme.
Sarangi has also requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to instruct authorities concerned to give proportionate share of credit to the Centre, the major contributor to the scheme, to obviate further damage to the credibility of this flagship rural housing scheme.
Writing separate letters to Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Patnaik, Sarangi said, “The deliberate and narrow approach of Odisha government in appropriating to itself the credit of the scheme despite having a larger resource share of Central government has created public outrage in the State on political lines, sending conflicting message to the people about the nature and character of the scheme.”
In his letter to the CM, Sarangi said houses constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Grameen (PMAY-G) has been named as BPGY with prominent display of the photograph of Biju Patnaik. Enclosing a sample, Sarangi said the scheme is mentioned only in abbreviation in a very small font size only to create a deceptive public impression that it is funded by State.