By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 4, 2015 :

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s pet project “Aahar” scheme launched with much fanfare on Utkal Divas on April 1 seems to have run into rough weather.

The opposition has attributed political motives behind launching the subsidised food of rice and dalma scheme at Rs 10   for ‘urban poor’.

The state government had started the Aahar scheme on April 1 to provide subsidized food to residents of Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Cuttack, Brahmapur and Rourkela.

Private operators literally caught the administration napping by launching a parallel subisdised food scheme at Rs 10 a meal here at the Capital Hospital, which drew more people than the government backed ‘Aahar’ scheme.

The nervous administration tried to scare the private operator, but restrained itself for fear of negative publicity. Drinking water scarcity is another problem that dogs the scheme, in these five places.

Moreover, the opposition has slammed the government scheme as sheer populist saying that the scheme is a populist stunt intended to pull the wool over the people of Odisha, rather than a serious attempt to deal with the problem of hunger and malnutrition in Odisha.

“The poorest in Odisha neither live in the five major cities, nor do they ever visit these cities. The adivasis, the dalits, the peasants who have been suffering neglect, live in the villages and visit small towns to sell their produce in the weekly hat or at times small towns for medical care. The BJD Government hardly wants to benefit all these poor and needy people and has started the scheme at places where there are news reporters and Television Cameras. Naveen Babu wants publicity paid for by state-run or private companies; food security is hardly his concern,” said former minister and Congress president Niranjan Patnaik.

Patnaik further added that Odisha Mining Corporation, Tata Steel and other companies who mine in districts like Keonjhar and Sundargarh did not distribute even a glass of water in the villages around their location, nor is there such a programme at the hospitals in Keonjhar or Bonai or Sundargarh.

“Why is that people living in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela or visiting these cities have been found to be most deserving beneficiaries unless of course the idea is to get maximum publicity? On the other hand the small hotel owners in these five cities will now be driven out of business and join the burgeoning ranks of the unemployed,” the Congress leader warned.

“Let OMC and Tata Steel implement Ahara Scheme in Keonjhar in the villages around the place where they are located, in Keonjhar town and other small towns. Food security in the periphery of a Company’s active area is a legal work under CSR as per the new Company’s Act. But, that should not amount to assisting with political propaganda,” he added.

There should be a broader debate on food security in Odisha and a proper methodology for implementation should be worked out to reduce incidence of hunger and mal-nutrition. Civil Society and the media should make people aware of the manner in which the BJD Government has trivialized an important issue, converting it into a populist stunt, Niranjan remarked.