ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥା ସହ ଲଢି ଲଢି ହାରିଗଲେ
Bhubaneswar, April 2: For a few days now, there has been a controversy in Odisha over the co-branding of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) wants that the PMAY-G houses, apart from its original logo, should also be labeled with the logo of Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) launched by the state government in 2014.
The BJP leaders, on the other hand, have objected to such a proposition contending that a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) cannot carry logos.
The BJD puts forth its claim for co-branding saying that the Odisha government is meeting 40 per cent of the matching share for execution of the scheme. And, hence, it has the right to co-brand the PMAY-G houses.
In fact, almost all the PMAY-G houses completed so far have been co-branded with PMAY-G and BPGY logos.
The claim for co-branding was not limited to the political domains. Even the Odisha government officially jumped on the bandwagon. State chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra wrote a letter No. 5037/PR&DW dated 12.03.2021 to Nagendra Nath Sinha, secretary of Union Rural Development department, seeking for co-branding of the PMGY-G houses.
In response to the chief secretary’s letter, the Union secretary Mr Sinha said the scheme was approved by the Union cabinet as a centrally-sponsored scheme and approved as PMAY-G for the Budget in the Parliament.
“The scheme is to be implemented in its original form and under the name of PMAY-G. The scheme is to be implemented as such and under the agreed funding pattern, and no other name can be appended. In view of the same, an as informed earlier that the Union ministry had conveyed to the States/UTs in the past to use only the official logo of PMAY-G,” Mr Sinha wrote to the Odisha chief secretary on March 30, 2021.
On the contribution of matching share by the state, the Union secretary said, “The contribution of minimum state share from state resources is a commitment by the state government for implementation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme and it does not confer the rights to the State Government for use of any other logo other than PMAY-G. This will also lead to misinterpretation of the scheme among the PMAY-G beneficiaries about the benefits of the scheme.”
The BJP leaders raked up the issue in the ongoing Assembly sessions. Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Kumar Nayak said co-branding was kind of hijacking of the scheme.
In fact, as for the mandate and guidelines of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), it cannot be co-branded and all the states and Union Territories have agreed to this.
In November 2014 the BJD government which used to label 108 emergency services ambulances as its programme was forced to change it following strong protests by the BJP. After much controversy, the state government had then given the Union health ministry its due credit for the ‘108’ ambulance service launched in March 2013 as part of a central project.
The ambulance service is predominantly an emergency response system, primarily designed to attend patients of critical care, trauma and accident victims. The scheme funded by the National Health Mission (NHM) was implemented in 28 states and the union territories.
According to official sources, 420 ambulances are engaged in the state. These vans were purchased under the National Rural Health Mission.
While the central share of expenditure was Rs 45.36 crore, the state government had spent Rs 44.93 crore.
The vehicles used to carry the logo of the state government and the message read — Odisha Zaroorikalin AmbuLance Seva (Odisha emergency ambulance service). Now, they have been repainted and the new message reads --- Rashtriya Ambulance Seva (national ambulance service).
