Odisha Assembly witnesses ruckus over Subhadra scheme

Bhubaneswar, Sep 2 (IANS) The Odisha Assembly on Monday witnessed pandemonium over the BJP government’s flagship ‘Subhadra Yojana’. Members of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress created a ruckus in the House demanding inclusion of all women in the scheme.The chaos prompted Speaker Surama Padhy to adjourn the House multiple times. However, when the House reconvened at 1.05 p.m., the opposition continued to disrupt the proceedings over the issue prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House till 4 p.m. Taking a jibe at the ruling party, senior BJD leader Pramila Mallik alleged that the promise of providing Rs 50,000 vouchers to every woman in the state made to the people by the BJP during the elections has proved false and misleading. She said the ruling party had earlier promised to give the financial aid to 2 crore women but they have made provisions in the budget to extend the assistance to only 1 crore women beneficiaries. As per the scheme, the beneficiaries will be provided Rs 10,000 every year, in two instalments of Rs 5000 each, till five years. “What kind of business could one do with Rs 5000 to become self-reliant? They have cheated the women and bagged votes on the basis of falsehood. They had promised to provide Rs 50,000 at one go but now they are planning to pay in instalments of Rs 5,000 each. This is disrespect to the women of the state,” Malik said. She also said the previous BJD government used to provide loans to women at zero interest apart from providing financial assistance on important occasions.“We demand the government to give Rs 50,000 voucher to all the women under the Subhadra scheme as promised earlier,” she added.Similarly, Congress leader Sofia Firdous said the BJP should implement what it had promised in its election manifesto. She also said that the ruling party had assured to pay Rs 50,000 vouchers which could be encashed in two years. The Congress leader also urged the government to include women in the age group of 60 to 80 years in the beneficiary list under the Subhadra scheme. The guidelines issued by the government mentions that only women between 21 and 60 years of age can apply for the assistance. Firdous also urged the state government to include the ‘Pachika Didis’ under the scheme. As per the guidelines, any woman receiving financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month or more or Rs 18,000 per annum or more under any state or Central government scheme would be ineligible for the Subhadra scheme. On the other hand, BJP leader Ashok Mohanty said that it is not acceptable to include financially sound, those paying taxes, doing government jobs and women from rich families under the scheme. He also termed the decision to provide Rs 50,000 assistance to 1.08 crore poor and needy women under the scheme as historic. –IANSgyan/arm