Bhubaneswar, April 14: Following the Supreme Court’s nod to a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGS) Scheme in Orissa, the Biju Janata Dal has come down heavily on the Congress accusing the party of conspiring to “stop the job programme scheme in Orissa”.

BJD youth wing chief Sanjay Dasburma today said: “The state has achieved the distinction of being the number three in the country in implementing the scheme. However, the Congress has conspired to stop the programme that meant exclusively for the poverty-stricken people of the state. The Congress-led UPA government has not released funds for the scheme for the current financial year,” he added.

Dasburma added that “chief minister Naveen Patnaik has never compromised with any sort of corruption. The people have reposed their faith on Naveen Patnaik’s government time and again, and his government has to come to power for the third successive term. Now, the Centre is trying to obstruct development of the state.”

He said that because of the “step-motherly attitude of the Centre,” Orissa had lost nearly Rs 40,000 crore due to non-revision of royalty of minerals. In a related development, senior BJD leader and agriculture minister Damodar Rout said: “The state government will not oppose the CBI inquiry on MNREGS and the Opposition leaders should not crow over the inquiry order. The apex court has made the district collectors responsible for the misutilisation of funds. The state government has already taken action in this regard. It has also adopted a policy to make NREGA transparent.”

He accused the Opposition of trying to create an unnecessary controversy on the pretext of CBI inquiry.