BHUBANESWAR: A day ahead of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Odisha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a political chargesheet against the state government titled "25 years of misrule" of Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Releasing the chargesheet, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said the ruling dispensation has not only looted the bountiful mineral resources of Odisha but cheated the people by depriving them from the welfare schemes of Narendra Modi goverment.
Launching a scathing attack on the Naveen Patnaik government, Yadav said the regional party has not kept a single promise it had given to the people."The BJD government had promised to create irrigation potential for at least 35 per cent of the cultivable land in each block with cold storage facility. While area covered under irrigation is diminishing, farmers suffered huge loss due to lack of cold stores," he said.
The KALIA scheme launched by the BJD to supplement the famers is now floundering as only 44 lakh famers are getting financial assistance as against 75 lakh farmers as promised.
"The income of Odisha farmers is one of the lowest in the country because of the anti-farmers policy of the state government," he said.
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav highlighted that the significant vacancy in various state government departments has led to rising unemployment and mass migration of youth from Odisha to other parts of the country in search of jobs. Media reports indicate that over 40,000 laborers from Odisha migrated to other states last year alone. The unemployment rate, which was 3.8% in 2015-16, has increased to 6.2% in 2019-20.
The Union Minister also said that the health and education system has crumbled due large scale vacancy of doctors and teachers.Quoting government reports, he said more than 4,300 posts of teachers in higher education is lying vacant while about 8,000 schools have been closed from 2015 to 2021.
He described the BJD government as a "government of scams," citing the Justice M B Shah Commission's exposure of a mining scam amounting to Rs 60,000 crore. "Now the government has committed another fraud on the people of the state by supplying cheaper thermal power from the state to Tamil Nadu while charging higher power tariff to the consumers of the state," he added.
Yadav attacked the government for its inefficiency in meeting the need of the people for safe drinking water despite huge assistance from the Central government. The state has miserably failed to cover all households with tap water despite receiving central assistance of Rs 15,000 crore.
Expressing concern over rising crime and increasing atrocities against women, the Union Minister said now Odisha has the dubious distinction of a state having highest rate of crimes.
"We will go to the people with this report card of the BJD government and the good governance and Modi's Guarantee before the election. We are confident that the people will bless us to form a double engine government in the state," Yadav said.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal and Opposition Chief whip Mohan Majhi also spoke about BJD misgovernance and the party's determination to oust this government.