Bhubaneswar, January 9: BJD president and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Naveen Patnaik on Friday blasted the BJP Government for its gross mismanagement and repeated policy flip-flops in handling the Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate enforcement drive in the State saying 'people of Odisha deserve better goverance.'

Taking to ‘X’, the former Chief Minister urged the Government to learn from these mistakes and prioritise the welfare of Odisha's citizens over hasty decisions.

“The BJP government's handling of the Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate enforcement has been marked by gross mismanagement and repeated policy flip-flops that have caused immense hardships, and inconvenience to the common people of Odisha. What started as a sudden announcement of the "No PUC, No Fuel" rule from January 1, 2026, quickly descended into chaos with massive queues at testing centres across the state,” wrote Patnaik.

Patnaik said the BJP Government failed to prepare adequately, with no expansion of testing infrastructure, no advance planning, and no awareness campaigns on the required scale.

“Faced with public outrage, the government was forced into multiple U-turns: first deferring enforcement to February 1, then to March 31, and most recently announcing a blanket relaxation with no fines until April 1,2026, including suspension of e-detection at toll gates,” wrote Patnaik.

Alleging that these repeated reversals expose the utter incompetence and lack of foresight in the Transport Department, Patnaik wrote, “The people of Odisha deserve better governance, policies that are implemented without causing unnecessary suffering. While controlling vehicular pollution is important, it cannot come at the cost of harassing citizens.”

Asserting that the Biju Janata Dal stands firmly with the people and has been vocal in protests against this mismanagement, Patnaik said, “We demand immediate scale up the PUC testing facilities, simplify the process, and ensure no undue penalties are imposed on people during this transition period. I urge the BJP government to learn from these mistakes and prioritise the welfare of Odisha's citizens over hasty decisions.”