Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 29: After the state government voiced its disappointment at public sector undertakings refusing to support the Aahar scheme, the BJP’s state unit attacked the BJD stating PSUs were not required to spend corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds on election expenditure.
The highly-publicised Aahar scheme, under which the state government envisions meals for Rs 5 per person in five cities from April 1, has run into rough weather after the Rourkela Steep Plant, Nalco and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd refused to commit to an agreement to fund the project.
“The Orissa government has launched the subsidised rice scheme with an eye on civic elections in the state and has tried to rope in PSUs to provide funds from their CSR activities,” said BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra. “Your election expenditure cannot be met out of CSR funds. CSR is not for charity; it is for sustainable development and for creating assets,” Mohapatra told mediapersons.
Mohapatra however was quick to point out that the BJP was not opposed to the scheme. The ruling government should have announced the scheme and incorporated it in its budget instead of asking for funds from PSUs, the BJP leader said.
Mohapatra also said RSP and MCL have been asked to set up medical colleges with an investment of Rs 200 crore each while they are also providing funds worth Rs 800 crore for construction of toilets in schools in the state.
The BJD government had announced launch of the Aahar scheme in Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur cities. In addition, the BJP leader blamed the state government for the power tariff hike announced by the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and demanded an immediate rollback.
“The state government has supported the OERC decision to hike the electricity tariff, which will affect the common people in the state. The same government has also exempted electricity duty of Rs 128 crore on Vedanta,” Mohapatra added.
“The power purchase is different for different companies and for Cesu, it is lower than others,” said Mohapatra questioning the relaxation of norms for the state-run company. The BJP also demanded a CAG audit into the electricity distribution sector in the state.
“We demand that a CAG audit be conducted for all discoms including Cesu, which will expose irregularities of the discoms and the government in the last several years,” Mohapatra said.
BJD leader Pratap Keshari Deb rubbished the allegations made by the BJP and said the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission ordered the power tariff hike though the state government had written to it asking for the rates to be kept unchanged.