Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Congress Sunday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence over the state’s demand for special category status and for not announcing anything special for people affected by the IOCL refinery project in Paradip.
“The prime minister was mute on the issue of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s demand for special category status for the state. The prime minister’s silence speaks volumes about how much he loves Orissa,” said Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan.
The OPCC chief also expressed concern over the status of Biju Patnaik National Steel Institute (BPNSI) set up near Puri during the NDA government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee. “Modi could have taken stock of the situation of an institute of national repute like BPNSI, which is in bad shape now,” said Harichandan at Congress Bhawan here.
He criticized Modi, who dedicated the IOCL refinery at Paradip to the nation Sunday, for not announcing anything special for the people affected by the project in particular and for Orissa’s people in general. “Nearly 1,750 people lost their land and 150 people were evicted from their ancestral homes for the IOCL project. It is ironical that Modi did not utter a single word for these people’s sacrifice,” said Harichandan.
Seeking credit for Congress for the IOCL refinery, he said no work was done at the project site since then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone in May 2000 till the Congress-led UPA-I came to power. “The project was originally supposed to be completed by August 2003. The UPA-I government kicked off construction work in 2006 by augmenting the estimated capacity of the refinery project from the earlier 6 million tonne to 15 million tone,” he said.
Harichandan further said construction work of the refinery was “almost completed by March 2014,” but it could not be dedicated to the nation due to the model code of conduct for the general elections in April that year.
Criticising Modi’s statement that he would have been happy had the project been completed 15 years back, Harichandan said Modi was “either misinformed or not informed well because there was an NDA government at the centre 15 years back”.
Rejecting Modi’s claim that the UPA government often failed to complete projects within the stipulated time, Harichandan said the NDA government has no history of successfully completing a project anywhere in the country. BJP leaders, however, rubbished the allegation. PNN