Ruckus in Odisha assembly over co-branding

BHUBANESWAR: With the Centre scuttling the move of the State government to co-brand the rural housing scheme under PMAY-G with the logo of BPGY, the Opposition BJP on Wednesday created ruckus in the Assembly demanding immediate removal of plaques containing Biju Patnaik logo.

As soon as the Assembly started for the day, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik drew the attention of Speaker SN Patro to the letter written by Union Rural Development Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha to the State government refusing permission to co-branding PMAY-G houses. He urged the Speaker to direct the government to remove the BPGY logo failing which his BJP members would not allow any business transaction in the House. After repeated adjournments, the Speaker called for an all-party meeting to resolve the tangle. As the Opposition members did not allow him to conduct the proceeding of the House, Patro adjourned the pre-launch session till 4 pm. 

Dubbing the co-branding of PMAY-G houses by the BJD government as a deceptive action designed to claim credit for a Centrally-sponsored scheme, Naik said the BJP has been protesting on the issue for quite sometime but the ruling party has brazened it out despite violating the established norms. “We will continue our protest both inside and outside the Assembly till the government removes the BPGY logo from the PMAY-G houses,” Naik said.

As the BJP continued to protest on the issue, the government in December 2020 had directed all the collectors and project directors of district rural development agency to complete co-branding of all the PMAY-G and BPGY houses by end of February 2021. “The plaque containing logo of concerned schemes should be affixed on all the PMAY-G and BPGY houses by end of February 2021,” Arindam Dakua, Director (Special Projects) of Panchayati Raj wrote in a letter.

Enclosing a revised design of the plaque in the official circular, Dakua said the co-branding should be undertaken in those houses completed after financial year 2014-15. This led to the BJP to approach Governor Ganeshi Lal seeking his intervention.