Bhubaneswar: The state government has till now spent over Rs 57 crore from the state coffers to fund the works of the youths enrolled under the recently launched state scheme of Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) from the department of sports and youth affairs, the government claimed Friday.
In a written statement submitted before the state assembly, the department gave a breakup of the funds invested in the youths under the scheme. The opposition parties had alleged the BYV to be a scheme to prepare party cadres in local areas with the taxpayers’ money. The BJD, however, had denied the allegation. According to the statement furnished in the Assembly, since the launch of the scheme the state government has spent a total of Rs 57,46,32,000 on the activities of the group in all the districts of the state. The government spent it on mainly four category of activities — Mu Hero Campaign at Panchayats (Rs 14,91,20,00 in total), Social Action at Panchayats (Rs 11,18,40,000), Organising Sports Activity at Panchayats (Rs 23,85,92,000) and Promotion of Culture (Rs 7,50,80,000).
However, the data claimed that the biggest beneficiary district was Ganjam. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also fights elections from the domain district. According to the figures, Ganjam district received the highest of Rs 4.44 crore out of the total allocation. Moreover in each category, Ganjam was the highest receiver of funds under the scheme.
Ganjam received a total of Rs 1,15,20,00 under the Mu Hero Campaign, Rs 86,40,00 for social action, Rs 1,84,32,000 for organizing sports activity and Rs 58,20,000 for promotion of culture under the scheme of the Biju Yuva Vahini of the sports department, the department minister Chandra Sarathi Behera told the Assembly through his written statement before the House.The minister said that each vahini (group) is destined to get Rs 1.5 lakh per year for their activities from the state government.
CM’s domain dist biggest beneficiary of BYV funds
