The opposition Congress today slammed the ruling BJD government in the Assembly for anomalies in the rolloot of 'Khushi' scheme for schoolgirls in the state.
Under the Khushi scheme, girls are provided free sanitary napkins in govenrment and government-aided schools across the state.
The Congress said that the scheme is being implemented in a partial manner.
Senior Congress MLA Bhujabal Majhi said the state government should make arrangements to provide sanitary napkins to girls studying between standard 6 and 12 in both aided and non-aided schools.
Majhi was replying to Health Minister Pratap Jenas statement in the Assembly. He said that the scheme will benefit girl students of only government-aided schools.
During Question Hour, Majhi said, Around 2,67,400 girls are studying in non-aided schools while many of the 51 schools for children with disabilities are yet to receive 'government-aided school' status. Would the state government include girl students of these schools under the scheme?
BJD MLA Sameer Ranjan Dash also wanted to know whether the state government would take steps to provide sanitary napkins to girls who are not even enrolled in schools.
Jena, however, said that the state government has not taken any decision in regard to providing free sanitary napkins to all girls.
The scheme is being implemented by the health and family welfare department of the state at a cost of 70 crore per year, a senior government official said.
After launching the scheme, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said that about 17 lakh girls studying in government and government-aided schools will benefit from it.
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