: The much hyped Aahar scheme, under which the Naveen Patnaik Government plans to provide lunch at five rupees per person in five urban centres from April 1, seems to have run into rough weather.
The latest populist scheme of the Biju Janata Dal Government is facing serious hurdles with Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a Central public sector enterprise, which was to provide financial support in one city, backing out at the last minute.
After announcing the scheme on March 2, the Odisha Government had requested five companies to provide three crore rupees each per annum to support the scheme in Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.
While MCL was asked to provide assistance for Sambalpur, the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was asked to support the scheme in Rourkela, National Aluminium Company (NALCO) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) in Cuttack and Tata Steel in Berhampur.
Trouble, however, began with MCL first refusing to provide any financial assistance for Aahar.
This decision of the MCL was strongly opposed by the ruling BJD legislators in the Odisha Assembly on Friday.
