Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was on an election campaign for the by-election to the Brajrajnagar Assembly seat on Tuesday, targeted the Naveen Patnaik Government for misrule and all-round failures.

“People of Brajrajnagar close to the Hirakud dam reservoir are deprived of drinking water. When a vast chunk of the State gets irrigated by Hirakud water, the entire Brajarajnagar constituency comes under non irrigated area. This is nothing but a curse for the people who sacrificed their home, arable land and everything for construction of the dam but remained neglected for decades,” Pradhan said.

“It is really unfortunate to find that the land oustees of the district and Brajrajnager, Belpahar, Lakhanpur, Tilia, Adhapara and Kanaktura are still remaining unpaid for seven decades towards the cost of their land and homes,” he added.

Pradhan said the people there had elected his father Dr Debendra Pradhan and also elected him (Dharmendra) as MP of then Deogarh Parliament constituency. “I hope the same blessings from you for Radharani Panda, the BJP candidate for the bypoll, will be repeated,” said Pradhan.

Only BJP can solve the problems of the people as Naveen Patnaik Government has done nothing tangible for Odisha or Jharsuguda, Pradhan told.

He further came down heavily on the BJD Government for depriving the local youth of the benefit of the industrialisation. He said the State Government has no control over the industries. “Due to lack of foresight of the Government the youth are going as Dadan labourers out of Odisha. At the same time, DMF funds are being grossly misutilised and the most popular scheme, Ayushman Yojana, is not being implemented in Odisha with evil intention,” said Pradhan.