Orissa govt "misleading" people on Central scheme - Congress

Bhubaneswar, Mar 6 (UNI) Former Orissa Chief Minister and senior Congress leader J B Pattnaik today accused the ruling BJD-BJP government in the state of ''misleading'' the people on implementation of centrally sponsored schemes.

Mr Pattnaik told newspersons here that the state government had virtually ''hijacked'' the two centrally sponsored schemes to take the credit keeping the people totally in dark.

He said the state government had launched a publicity campaign and started distributing leaflets on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Old Age Pension Scheme, projecting these programmes as state-sponsored.

The leader of opposition in the Orissa Assembly said the Centre had proposed the enhancement of the Old Age Pension from existing Rs 75 per month to Rs 200 in the general budget which was mandatory on the part of the government to implement it.

But the BJD-BJP government yesterday announced that it had raised the pension to Rs 200 while celebrating the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. This was totally ''misleading'' as the state government had no option but to implement the Centre's decision to enhance the old age pension to Rs 200 per month, Mr Pattnaik said.

He said though the Centre had introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme in 200 districts, including 19 in Orissa, the state government had not yet implemented the scheme and identified the beneficiaries.

On the other hand, it had launched a publicity campaign completely ignoring the contribution of the Centre as if the programme was fully sponsored by the state government.

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