Bhubaneswar, Nov 10 (PTI) A day after Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi announced a Rs 30,000 monthly honorarium for Padma awardees in the state, the Opposition BJD on Sunday said the Naveen Patnaik-led government had already made such a decision earlier this year.
Addressing a press conference here, BJD spokesperson Lelin Mohanty claimed that on March 13, 2024, the Patnaik government announced that Padma awardees of the state will be given an assistance of Rs 25,000 each month. He said the government had also announced that the awardees will start getting the honorarium from April.
"The press release issued by the CMO on Saturday did not mention about the previous government’s decision. This is sufficient to say the BJP government was trying to take credit of the decisions made by the previous Naveen Patnaik government," Mohanty said.
Similarly, the BJD spokesperson claimed that the 10-day extra casual leave was accorded to women employees for their menstrual cycle. "This decision was taken on March 12 by the previous BJD government. A notification in this regard was already been issued," Mohanty said.
However, the Majhi government repeated the announcement and allocated 12 days leave for women instead of 10 days, Mohanty added.
Alleging that the BJP government in Odisha has been following the footsteps of the previous government, Mohanty claimed that most of this government’s decisions were already taken by the previous regime. "The dates of their implementation were also announced," he said.
"The BJP government has been trying to take credit just by making fresh announcements. The present dispensation in fact does nothing other than copying the previous government’s decisions," he alleged.
Meanwhile, the BJD has reiterated its accusation that two tribal women in Mandipanka village, Kandhamal district, died after consuming mango kernel gruel recently since they did not receive their allocated PDS rice.
The party demanded the immediate dismissal of food supplies and consumer welfare minister for his inefficiency leading to death of two woman in Kandhamal.
Food Supplies and Consumer welfare minister KC Patra rejected BJD’s allegation and said: "At least 20 persons died in Kashipur block in 2016. Whose government was ruling at that time? Why no minister resigned then?"
Referring to Padma honorarium allegations, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan claimed that he was not aware of any such announcement made earlier. "The BJD government was making several announcements before elections," the minister said.