Opposition parties in Odisha question 'Ashirbad' scheme aid for COVID-19 orphans

BHUBANESWAR: A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced a special scheme 'Ashirbad' for children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic, opposition BJP and Congress have raised questions on the initiative and asked what will happen to those who have lost both their parents prior to April 2020.

The Opposition political parties have also sought to know the method by which the government will arrive at the correct number of such children.

The government should first clarify how it will get the correct data about the orphans, former finance minister Panchanan Kanungo said, adding that even now it is suppressing the number of COVID deaths in the State.

The Congress leader demanded that the State government should first try to come out with a correct list of such orphans or else there will be discrepancies in its implementation.

BJP State general secretary Golak Mohapatra demanded that the State government should include children who have lost their parents in natural calamities and not only due to the pandemic. "Odisha has seen many natural calamities during the last 21 years including several cyclones. Government should also find out children who have lost their parents to the calamities," he said.

Mohapatra also alleged that the Ashirbad scheme is a duplicate of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced on May 30 for children orphaned due to COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme announced by the Prime Minister will be funded from the PM CARES and take care of everything starting from their education, health and other requirements, he added.