The Odisha unit of the BJP has intensified its campaign against reported branding of the Prime Minister Awas Yojna (PMAY) houses as the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojna (BPGY).
The party accused the Biju Janata Dal government of appropriating the Central schemes and showcasing them as its own.
The BJP is opposed to the affixing of the BPGY sticker. “It is unfortunate that the Naveen Patnaik government has resorted to cheap publicity tactics. No other State government has tried to appropriate the PMAY scheme,” said party spokesperson Prithivraj Harichandan.
“The PMAY is a national flagship programme and no one can change its nomenclature or logo. After the State government resorted to affixing the sticker, people started raising objections,” said Mr. Harichandan.
“Following people’s opposition, the State government issued a fresh notice saying there would be new logo on which both the PMAY and the BPGY would be written,” he said.
The BJP leader alleged that the State government has neither issued any work order for construction of the PMAY house nor enlisted any beneficiary in the PMAY portal during the past one and half years.
“The State government had spent ₹9.42 crore in printing the last logo. Now, the government has declared to prepare new logo which means the money spent on the previous logo is a waste.”
Reacting to the criticism, BJD leader Lenin Mohanty said the BJP-led Central government had awarded Odisha for being the best performing State for rural housing.
“Odisha provides almost the same amount of financial resources or funds that the Centre provides for the housing programmes. The success of creating 20 lakh houses in only five years by the BJD government has unnerved the BJP,” Mr. Mohanty said.
The BJP, however, pointed out that the Centre had in 2017-18 provided ₹6,218 crore under the PMAY scheme whereas ₹668 crore was spent under the BPGY which was 10% of PMAY’s fund. During the past two years, the fund spent under the BPGY was never above 15% of the PMAY in Odisha, it said.
