Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Saturday hit back at Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over his allegation that the previous government in Odisha worked for land, sand, coal and mining mafias instead of the people, calling his remarks “misleading and unfortunate”.
In a statement, the BJD accused the BJP government of attempting to conceal its failures by turning the housing scheme into a political weapon.
Chouhan made the allegations while addressing a public meeting in Balangir after handing over work orders to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for the construction of 5 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
“The previous BJD government worked for the welfare of the mafia and not for the poor people. The BJP governments at the Centre and in Odisha will do everything for the overall development of the state,” the Union Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development said.
Alleging that the previous BJD government had committed an “injustice” against the poor, Chouhan claimed that investigations into the implementation of the PMAY had exposed a major scam.
“Many ineligible persons were fraudulently included in the list of beneficiaries under the PMAY, due to which genuinely poor people were denied houses under the scheme. The BJD snatched away the rights of the poor in Odisha,” the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged.He also alleged that irregularities in the implementation of the housing scheme had prevented the state from securing adequate housing units for poor families.
However, Chouhan said the present BJP government was committed to ensuring that all eligible beneficiaries received the benefits of the scheme. “No eligible beneficiary will be deprived of their rightful entitlement to a house,” he said, adding that the government would ensure a pucca roof over the heads of every poor family.
Briefing reporters, BJD senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said more than 40 lakh pucca houses had been completed in Odisha through various schemes between 2014-15 and 2023-24.”Odisha had emerged as one of the leading states in the country in rural housing according to the central government’s own data,” Mishra said.
He also said a significant portion of the houses being distributed by Majhi was based on processes initiated and beneficiary selection carried out during the previous BJD government.
“Therefore, denying the contribution of the previous government and projecting its achievements as one’s own is unfortunate. While the beneficiaries were selected on the basis of gram sabha decisions during BJD tenure, the norms are not followed now. Describing such a transparent process as a scam by the Union minister is politically motivated,” Mishra said.
