As Odisha’s Bharatiya Janta Party government headed by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi completed three months on September 12, the ruling party seems to be focusing on its pre-election double engine development thrust. That Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Odisha on his birthday on September 17 when he will launch the state government’s flagship scheme ‘Subhadra Yojana’ for women that had helped BJP’s victory in the last election shows that both the governments in Delhi and Bhubaneswar belonging to the same party are working in tandem for developmental as well as political purposes.
Subhadra scheme will benefit over one crore women in Odisha, says an advertisement published by the state government today in all the newspapers. Bhubaneswar’s Janta Maidan will be the venue for the prime minister’s programme. It was the same venue where on June 12, he had attended Odisha’s first BJP government’s swearing-in ceremony along with central leaders including chief ministers of other BJP ruled states.
During its campaign for the last Lok Sabha and assembly elections—which had been held together—the BJP in its election manifesto had promised ‘Subhadra Yojana’ which would provide a grant of Rs 50,000 to each besides a procurement rate of Rs 3,100 per quintal of paddy to farmers. Both the promises helped the BJP—along with the Pandian factor—to end 24-years-old Naveen Patnaik regime as well as his Biju Janta Dal’s rout in all parliament seats in the state.
The result was BJP’s victory in both the polls. The first BJP government in the state had taken oath on June 12 under the chief ministership of tribal leader Mohan Charan Majhi. Besides sticking to the implementation of the party’s election manifesto, the chief minister has visited Delhi a few times to approach the central ministers to get the Centre’s support unlike the previous government which was complaining of alleged neglect from the Centre.
Since Union Railway Minister Aswini Vaishnaw is a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, he has been more liberal now to the state after the BJP government’s installation. Besides announcing new rail line projects, he has introduced more Vande Bharat Express trains in the state. Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, has also sanctioned new highways after Majhi met him. Prime Minister Modi during his aggressive election campaign in the state had promised to make Odisha a best developed state. So,when he is coming to Bhubaneswar for the second time, three months after the BJP government’s formation, he is going to lay foundation stones and dedicate projects worth Rs 3800 crore. This includes rail projects worth Rs 2,800 crore and highways costing Rs 1000 crore.
But, the main purpose of Modi’s Bhubaneswar visit is to launch Subhadra Yojana for women. Though no one has said anything about the coinage, Subhadra is the name of the state’s reigning deity Lord Jagannath’s younger sister. In Puri temple the brother and sister along with elder brother Lord Balabhadra are worshiped and every year they join the famous car festival installed on three chariots. Subhadra Yojana is an initiative to empower women by providing them financial assistance. Ove 50 lakh women have already registered for the scheme which is going to give financial benefits to many households across the state. Each eligible woman within the age of 21 to 60 will get Rs 50,000 within next five years. It means each woman will get Rs 10,000 per annum in two equal installments from current year 2024-25 to 2028-29.The payment will be made in DBT process to the beneficiary’s Aadhar enabled and DBT enabled bank account with first phase transfer on March 8—the international women’s day—and the second phase on Rakhi Purnima every year. For this, Rs 10,000 crore has been provided in this year’s budget. Each beneficiary will get the first installment of Rs 5000 on September 17 which coincides with the prime minister’s birthday.
According to PMO, on this historic occasion, the prime minister would initiate the fund transfer into the bank accounts of more than 10 lakh women. Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida has said the applicants of Subhadra Yojana, who have submitted their applications by September 15 will receive their first installment on September 17. This announcement has come amidst long queues by women all over the state for registration. Over 50 lakh women have already registered for the scheme, according to the deputy CM.
The state government on Sunday transferred Re 1 to the accounts of beneficiaries of Subhadra Yojana to test the success of the accounts transfer. Odisha government has declared holiday for all schools and colleges in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday for the prime minister’s visit. Government offices at Bhubaneswar will also be closed for the first half of the day, according to the Chief Minister’s Office.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Subhadra Scheme is the largest single women-centric scheme and it is expected to cover more than one crore women. During the same programme, the prime minister will release the first installment of assistance to nearly 13 lakh beneficiaries under PMAY-G of around 14 states. The Griha Pravesh celebrations for 26 lakh beneficiaries of PMAY(Gramin and Urban) from across the country will be held during the programme. PM will hand over the keys of the houses to the PMAY (Gramin and Urban) beneficiaries. He will also launch the Awaas + 2024 App for a survey of additional households for PMAY-G. Further, the prime minister will launch the Operational Guidelines of Pradhan Mantri awas Yojana-Urban(PMAY-U)2.0.
The prime minister’s Bhubaneswar programme on his birthday after he has taken over for the third term makes it a national programme with a political message. Modi is going to speak from a state where his party has formed government on its own for the first time. But the main opposition party, the BJD, has criticized the Subhadra Yojana as an election gimmick. Its Rajya Sabha MP MS Sulata Deo noted that the scheme was promised to benefit 2.25 crore women which has been reduced.
“The scheme’s promise of Rs 50,000 per year was supposed to help women invest, but their plans have been thwarted. Now the beneficiary will get only Rs. 27 per day. What she will do with this ?,” she said. In the last budget session of the state assembly, the opposition accused the government of betraying the state’s women through this scheme, though the government countered the allegations by terming it as women empowerment scheme.
As far as the new rail projects are concerned, last month the Centre had sanctioned six rail lines out of which four will be in Odisha and the rest will connect it with other states. These are Gunupur-Therubali new line (73 km), Junagarh-Nabarangpur new line (116.2 km), Badampahar-Kendujhargarh new line (82 km), Bangiriposi-Gorumahisani new line (85.6 km) which will be fully in Odisha. Malkangiri-Pandurangpuram via Bhadrachalam new line (173.6 km) will connect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. Buramara-Chakulia new line (60 km) will connect Odisha with Jharkhand and West Bengal. Railway Minister Vaishnaw has said these six projects covering five states including Odisha will cover 12 districts adding 700 km of rail line. These projects will enhance connectivity to aspirational districts like KBK districts of Odisha.
Official sources say these are essential routes for transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertilizer, coal, iron, ore, steel, cement, bauxite, limestone, aluminium, granite, ballast and containers. Then in another decision by the cabinet committee on economic affairs last month, two major rail projects have been sanctioned for Odisha to promote tourism and economic activities in western districts which are traditional bases of the BJP. These projects are Bargarh Road-Nuapara via Padmapur new rail line and Sardega-Bhalumuda double line project. Vaishaw has said there were demands from people and elected representatives for Bargarh Road-Nuapada new line project and it will provide connectivity to the rice bowl of India, the hub of Sambalpuri handloom and famous Nrusinghanath temple in Bargarh district. This line will also provide additional route to Raipur, the capital of neighbouring Chhattisgarh besides the busy freight corridor of Titlagarh in western Odisha’s Bolangir district.
According to Railway sources, all steel plants in the region are going for huge expansion. This line will be vital for moving finished steel from these steel plants to north India. Coal from Angul district in Odisha will be transported towards Raipur region for various industries. This line will reduce the logistic cost of domestic coal movement by reducing the distance and detention. Iron ore from Daitary and Gandhamardan in Odisha can go via this route to steel plants of Raipur region. According to projected freight traffic, it will load 6.5 million tonnes per annum of coal, 3 MTPA of iron ore, 4.5 MTPA of steel, 0.5 MTPA of cement, 0.5 MTPA of rice and other goods. From tourism side, it will connect Nrusinghanath temple, Debrigarh sanctuary and Sunabeda.
According to Odisha’s Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari, the state government will provide land for the projects without delay and will extend all support to complete the projects in time. This 138 km rail line will cost Rs. 2926 crore and is expected to be completed in five years. The Sardega-Bhalumunda double line will cost Rs. 1300 crore and its distance is 37 km. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has said the previous government in the state was not offering special cooperation for land acquisition for railways projects. With current double engine government, he expects all hurdles to railway development to be cleared. Majhi made this comment on Sunday while returning to Bhubaneswar from Berhampur by the Berhampur-Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express virtually inaugurated by the prime minister. Modi flagged off two Vande Bharat Express trains in Odisha on Sunday. These two trains started running from Berhampur and Rourkela. The latter will connect Howrah. One more Vande Bharat Express which will run from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Durg in Chhatisgarh via Raygada in south Odisha is to be flagged off by Modi.
Chief Minister Majhi has said six Vande Bharat trains will now pass through Odisha. He said the Centre has already sanctioned projects worth Rs 70000 crore out of the Rs 1 lakh crore investment planned for development of railway infrastructure in Odisha. He said the golden era of railways in Odisha has started. I&B Minister Vaishnaw also approved 19 FM radio channels in six towns of Odisha.
As far as the road development is concerned, Union ministry of Road Transport and Highways has agreed in principle to execute four highway projects in Odisha. Last month, Gadkari reviewed 51 ongoing national highway projects for Odisha in the presence of Chief Minister Majhi and state Works minister Prithviraj Harichandan in Delhi. Projects worth Rs 21650 crore were discussed in the review meeting. The chief minister requested Gadkari to consider Odisha’s proposal for six-laning of 60 km Bhubaneswar–Puri highway at a cost of Rs 1800cr,200 km Chandikhol-Barbil at a projected estimate of Rs 10000 crore; four-laning of 54 km Khurda-Nayagarh national highway at a cost of Rs 1100 cr; four-laning of Kesinga-Junagarh national highway at a cost of Rs 1000 crore. It was decided that the Union ministry will take steps to prepare detailed project reports of all these four projects.
The chief minister also submitted proposals of a few more projects including four grand ring roads. All these projects will involve investment of more than Rs. 40000 crore. The state government is planning to develop 75000 kms of world class roads in the next five years as per the manifesto promises of quality roads in both rural and urban areas. Chief Minister Majhi has said the second AIIMS in the state will be set up in Sambalpur of western Odisha. Now Bhubaneswar has one AIIMS which had been the first AIIMS after Delhi. It had been set up by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. But Odisha has not been included in the Centre’s decision to develop 12 new industrial cities in nine states. It has led to criticism as Odisha’s potential is enormous and during last year of the previous BJD government, around 10 lakh crore of industrial investment was in the pipeline.
Though the BJP had announced during elections to give 300 units of free power to counter BJD’s 100 units of free electricity, now Deputy Chief Minister Mr K.V. Singhdeo who holds Energy department has said there was no free power commitment and people can set up solar panels on roof top under PM Suryaghar Yojana availing subsidy and generate 300 units of power. In the meantime, the BJP has started its membership drive as per national programme and Majhi has expressed hope if party expands its membership campaign it can remain in power in the state for the next 25 years. May be he is hoping to add one more year for the BJP against 24 years of reign of his predecessor.