Bhubaneswar: The state leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday expressed apprehensions of massive misuse of the funds allocated for the Potato Mission and sought explanation from the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the blatant failure of the BJD government on the issue.
Raking up the issue, party leader from the state Prithiviraj Harichandan said that the Potato Mission envisioned by the BJD government way back in 2014 to boost the production of potato in the state and give a fillip to the cold storages in the state has failed in getting its required results. The party alleged that crores were spent on the mission which also included foreign tours of many bureaucrats.
BJP claimed that there are high chances of misuse of funds citing no appreciable growth of potato production in the state and dying cold storage units of the state. The saffron party sought explanation from the CM and the state agriculture department on where the whole amount of Potato Mission was spent exactly.
Addressing a press conference, Harichandan said, “Still a majority of potatoes in state, around 9 lakh tones, are imported from West Bengal as the state failed to boost potato production in the state as promised under the mission while crores were spent under the scheme.”
The BJP leader also said that the mission promised to set up new cold storage units to boost potato farming and its storage. On the contrary, due to lack of facilities, most cold storages suffered losses and are now on the verge of closing down.
“While the Centre gives subsidies for cold storages, the lack of electricity and the rampant government apathy threatened the existence of cold storage units in the state. Many constructed under PPP mode later came under crisis while farmers also faced the backlash,” the leader said.
Seeking explanation of the fund utilization under the alleged failed mission, the BJP leader said, “Let the CM give the budget spending on Potato Mission. Where was the money spent if the production did not increase? In the name of Potato Mission, massive irregularities were done. We suspect misuse of the Potato Mission funds.”