Bhubaneswar: The Opposition BJP and Congress Saturday came down heavily on the state government for its poor ranking in Niti Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index for 2020-21. However, BJD said that the data provided by the state has not been taken into account in the SDG report.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said, “Odisha figures in the list of bottom five states among 28 states of the SDG Index report of Niti Aayog. It is a shame and very unfortunate for us. Even after 21 years of BJD rule, 33 per cent of the population is still below the poverty line.”
During the past one year, there is no change in the poverty scenario in the state while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has only 9.2 per cent BPL population, she said.
Odisha secures the third position from bottom in poverty alleviation.
About 1 crore people in the state are still living in kutcha houses while in West Bengal the figure is only 6 per cent and in Andhra Pradesh it’s 3.2 per cent, the BJP leader stated hinting at the findings of the Niti Aayog report.
“The Union government has sanctioned lakhs of pucca houses to Odisha. Where are these dwellings,” she asked.
Sarangi further said that Odisha is ranked sixth from the bottom in the category of zero hunger in SDG. About 29 per cent of children below 5 years are malnourished in the state, she stated.
Similarly, crimes against women have increased in the state. At least 103 women in 1 lakh are exploited in the state, Sarangi said. When it comes to economic growth, Odisha is ranked second from the bottom among 28 states, she added.
Joining Sarangi, senior Congress leader Suresh Routray said, “We have scored so low in irrigation sector! During past 21 years, the BJD government has failed to construct a single dam on Mahanadi. Chhattisgarh has stopped Mahanadi water.”
The government should make a detail analysis of the Niti Aayog report and note down the loopholes for action in future, he added.
Reacting to the opposition, BJD leader and MP Amar Patnaik said, “It seems there were discrepancies during preparation of the report. While enough marks have been given to Central schemes, successful state schemes like Mamata, Mission Shakti, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna and others have been ignored.”
While 92 per cent marks have been given to Odisha on industrialisation in 2019, no mark has been awarded this year, he said.
However, state got 99 per cent in the banking service even though the service has not been reached to all rural areas of the state, the BJD leader pointed out.
The data provided by the state has not been taken into account in the SDG report. To divert the attention of people from the vaccine shortage issue, the BJP is doing politics even not going through the report thoroughly, Patnaik said.
