Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading people by taking credit for the Talcher fertilizer plant and Jharsuguda airport, claiming that these were the brainchild of the erstwhile UPA government.
Srikanta Jena, Chairman of the Manifesto Committee, and Bhakta Das, Chairman of the Campaign committee, Sunday objected to the claims made by the PM.
Addressing the media, Jena cited a Parliament reply dated December 6, 2013 stating that officials were working to revive the Talcher plant which was closed down in 2000. “It was under the NDA government at the Centre that the plant closed down and the UPA government moved to save the plant. It (UPA) tried reviving it with the help of concerned PSUs and several MoUs were also signed in this regard. The idea wasn’t proposed by the NDA government which they have been boasting about,” Jena said.
The party also asked if the PM was so much concerned about the closed down plants/factories in the state then why was he silent on the sick factories in Ganjam and Kalahandi. Jena added that due to delays by the NDA government, the proposed cost of the plant is likely to go up from UPA’s estimate of Rs 9,000 crore to Rs 14,200 by the end of 2022, when the plant is expected to be ready.
Jena also took a dig at the PM over his claims of giving central share in providing subsidised rice to the poor. “Central share for subsidised rice is not NDA’s contribution. The UPA government too had given its share and in fact the National Food Security Programme was one of the pet projects of the UPA government. It is just that we failed to advertise extensively like the NDA government,” Jena added. He even accused the NDA government of interfering with the subsidised ration to the Kalahandi Bolangir Koraput (KBK) areas, depriving the old and disabled who were earlier eligible for 35kgs of rice.
The party also alleged that the Jharsuguda airport was a plan envisaged by the Congress party and it was under the UPA regime that the proposal to have another airport in Odisha was conceived.