KENDRAPARA/JAJPUR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched distribution of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) smart health cards for Kendrapara and Jajpur districts on virtual mode.
More than 26 lakh people of both districts will be benefitted from the scheme. In Kendrapara, the CM laid foundation stones for 106 projects and inaugurated 54 projects at a cost of over Rs 1,500 crore.
Foundation was laid for 14 drinking water projects to provide piped water to villages of Aul, Rajkanika, Derabishi, Kendrapara and Rajnagar blocks. Similarly in Jajpur, Naveen launched various projects worth Rs 2,000 crore in the district.
With Kendrapara and Jajpur, all 30 districts of the State have been covered under the BSKY smart health card scheme. Meanwhile, opposition leaders of Kendrapara described the CM’s foundation laying spree as a poll gimmick ahead of the panchayat elections. Senior Congress leader and former minister Ganeswar Behera said the CM is trying to woo voters ahead of the rural polls.
“During the last election, the CM had promised to provide drinking water to all the villages. Besides, he had announced to connect all riverside villages with bridges. But he has failed to keep his promises. Now all of a sudden, the CM laid foundation stones for 10 bridges and 14 drinking water projects. It is nothing but a poll gimmick,” he alleged.
BJP leader Bijay Pradhan, who unsuccessfully contested from Mahakalapada Assembly seat in the last elections, said the CM had laid the stone for a mega drinking water supply project for salinity-hit coastal pockets of the district in 2018 and even promised to complete it in two years. However, the project is moving at a snail’s pace, he claimed.