**Bhubaneswar:** On his two day visit to Odisha, BJP national president Amit Shah had given a motivating speech in Bhawanipatna to lay the foundation for the campaign of the forthcoming general elections in 2019 and to boost up the morale of the party workers.
In his array of accusations against the State government, Amit Shah pointed out the the State Government had done nothing in developing or constructing the rural roads in the villages.
He said, “There are 12,442 villages where there are no roads. They are not connected with the mainland. The money sent by the Centre under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is not spent properly here. The Odisha government does not have the capacity to spend it, nor develop the villages. If CM Naveen Patnaik is unable to connect these villages, then he should vacate his post and let a BJP CM who will do this within a span of two years.”
BJD vice-president and Odisha Civil Supplies & Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro took a dig at his statements. He informed, “Just 3 days back, the Central Government had lauded the State Government that Odisha tops the list in Pradha Mantri Gram Sadak Yojan (PMGSY). Now one of the BJP leaders is coming and refuting the fact. They do not seem to have co-ordination or just do not know the latest data before presenting it before the public.”
Sasmit Patra, BJD Spokesperson refuted his allegations by providing the real statistics on Odisha rural roads. He said, “Odisha is the only State in India which has constructed around more than 41,000 kms roads in the rural areas in last 10 years. Even the Central government rewarded Odisha for it. In financial year 2017-18, Odisha has topped the country by completing construction of a total 7009.19 km of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) which is more than the target of 7,000 km set by Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) for the financial year. If there are such allegations of non-construction of road, that means they are accusing the Central Government of erring.”
PMGSY was introduced during 2000 to provide all-weather connectivity in rural areas with cent per cent central assistance. During 2015-16, the states were asked to share 40 per cent of the project cost, with remaining to be borne by the Centre.