Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Sunday said the central government had been sending adequate funds to Odisha but they were not reaching the people.Addressing a public meet at Bhatapada village near Cuttack, Gandhi said: "The money we send is being stolen." "Your money is not reaching you. It's getting lost in between," he said.The Congress leader said people in Odisha continue to remain poor despite the state being rich in mineral resources.He also criticised the state government for complaining about the lack of central funds and said Rs.5,000 crore was still lying unspent with the government.Gandhi also highlighted several burning issues concerning the state, including unemployment, mid-day meal scheme, chit fund scam, central rural job scheme scam and the Maoist problem.He said as many as 3,500 farmers have committed suicide while there are about 10 lakh unemployed youths in the state."People in Odisha want to work but the state government does not provide them employment," he said.
He said 22 of the state's 30 districts have been affected by Maoist activities. "Rs.60,000 crore worth of iron ore and manganese ore were looted... People should have benefited from this money but the benefit went to selected people, mining mafias," he said, criticising the government over the alleged mining scam. He added that 20 lakh people were defrauded by the chit-fund scam in the state.Earlier, hundreds of Congress workers and leaders greeted Gandhi and gave him a rousing welcome when he landed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here on a two-day visit to the state.Gandhi is scheduled to interact with party leaders and workers during his stay.Sharma said the tradition was being followed in the village for over forty years."We are committed to organising the yagyopavit sanskar every year for girls on the occasion of Basant Panchami," he said.
It began when Vishwanath Singh set up a girls school in Mania village in 1972 at a time when women were discouraged from joining school. Undaunted, he sent his four daughters to school, which encouraged and inspired others.Singh then held the thread ceremony for his elder daughter. The practice was later adopted by others and it became a tradition in the village.Singh's daughter Meera Kumari, the girl with whom the practice started, said she and her three sisters still wear the sacred thread."Wearing the janeu is a symbol that we are no less important than men," Meera Kumari, a school teacher, said.More than four dozen girls in the village wear the sacred thread.