Naveen approves Biju KBK Plan

Bhubaneswar, Sep 27 (UNI) Notwithstanding the criticism from the Opposition, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today approved the Rs 600 crore each for Biju KBK Plan and Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana to undertake various developmental programmes in the backward regions.

The Opposition had described the two programmes announced by the Chief Minister as a ''political gimmick'' aimed at the coming Panchayat elections in the state and questioned the source of the fund to meet the two progarmmes.

Mr Patnaik had announced the programmes in the monsoon session of the state Assembly after criticising the UPA government for reducing the grant for the KBK regions under the Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP).

Congress vehemently opposed it, saying the Chief Minister was misleading the people and clarified that the UPA government had not reduced annual grant under the RLTAP.

Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister J B Pattnaik even stated that while the NDA government had released over Rs 700 crore during its six-year tenure for the plan, the UPA government had provided Rs 500 crore during the past two years.

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