Naveen Patnaik Govt Spent Over Rs 1200 cr on Buying Jute Bags, Livelihood Assistance Before 2024 Polls
By : Akshaya Kumar Sahoo
Update: 2024-09-04 15:36 GMT
Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by Naveen Patnaik spent an enormous Rs 1206 crore for buying jute bags and providing Rs 1000 livelihood assistance to each family under the Public Distribution System (PDS) before the 2024 general elections, informed state food supplies and consumer welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra in Odisha Assembly on Wednesday.
Replying to a question in the House, minister Patra said, "The then BJD government spent Rs 247.36 crore for around two crore jute shopping bags for distribution to around 96 lakh odd PDS beneficiaries."
Apart from two jute bags, the BJD government also provided Rs 1,000 to each PDS beneficiary family, putting an additional Rs 959.5 crore burden on the state government’s exchequer, Patra revealed in the House.
During the election, BJD claimed it was a step to wean people away from hazardous plastic bags. However, the Opposition slammed the government and termed it as a “vote-winning trick.”
Despite all the expenditures, BJD lost the elections paving the way for the BJP to form a government for the first time since Independence.
The Naveen Patnaik government has also been accused of spending huge sums of money on jute bag advertisements and other welfare schemes.
“In 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the BJD claimed the Centre’s PDS scheme as its own and created a perception in the minds of the people that it was concerned for their food security. When the BJP constantly exposed the myth and told the people that PDS rice was given by the Narendra Modi government, the Naveen Patnaik government tried to play smart by doling out the rice in jute bags which carried the logo of the BJD,” said Biranchi Tripathy, state BJP spokesperson.
He added that people were “intelligent” enough to make out the BJD government’s “design” and voted them out of power.