Justice Das panel exposed
Justice Madan Mohan Das attending the meeting of BJD lawyers’ Forum has sparked off a controversy especially after when he spoke about the chit fund companies where the people of the State who invested crores of rupees out of greed ended up being cheated. How could he forget that the incumbent is spearheading a commission appointed by the State Government to inquire into the chit fund scam that makes headlines in the print and electronic media on a daily basisIJ His brief may have limitation of enlisting the names of the investors only, but once appointed by the Government, the blame game he played is not desirable. By blaming the investors directly, he is supposed to have given a clean chit to the Government. little wonder, the whole episode has become a subject of criticism by the Opposition. Now if State Congress chief Prasad Harichandan, BJP spokesman Pradip Purohit and CPI State secretary Dibakar Nayak are running after his scalp, nobody but he only is to blame. First of all, he should not have gone to that forum as its chief guest, knowing well that the forum directly or indirectly has links with the ruling party. Subsequently when the controversy has escalated, the commission making a volte-face and referring to his opinion as ‘personal’ will hold no water. In such a situation, if the Opposition has pounced upon to cash in on this opportunity, there is nothing wrong.
Builders-politicians nexus
The Indravati dam is said to be a boon for the Kalahandi farmers. But the inherent defects the builders have left in the basic structure of the canal due to a nexus between the builders and the politicians will go on unleashing disastrous results like the one happened on last Wednesday. The left canal, suspected to have been built by a compromise with quality, has once again surfaced with one more breach. Hundred acres of farm land have been washed out in flood. Kalahandi district Collector D Brunda has constituted a committee and is waiting for the report, although it is well known that during the tenure of former Chief Minister JB Patnaik, the political behemoth was in connivance with one Dambaru Agarwal, the principal contractor of the project. If not a Pajero, he presented a costly car to the then Minister for Roads and Buildings. If no action was taken at that time and the entire incident was swept under the carpet, what can be done nowIJ Can we retrieve the amount spent on the project from themIJ The canal breached at least three times earlier and therefore, it is a bane rather than a boon. Will the Collector recommend the Government to revisit the skeletons that lie in the cupboardIJ
Raw deal to Odisha sprinters
Budding athletes Srabani Nanda and Amiya Mallik of Odisha have been taken for a ride by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) despite creating national records in their respective events. The federation was organising the Indian Grand pix for the first time and athletes were supposed to qualify on the basis of their performance. The qualifying time for men 100 mtrs was kept at 10.16 seconds and Amiya covered the distance seven seconds earlier (10.9). Similarly Srabani Nanda breasted the tap in 11.23 seconds against the qualifying time of 11.32. Both of them won gold medals in this competition whereas they were disqualified to participate in Rio Olympics for the negligence of the organizers who used hand timers in place of electronic timers. Their coach Neelamadhav Rao in his reaction said use of hand timers in such a big event is unbelievable. The organizers should have gone for alternative arrangement if electricity failed when the event was on. Having known that the timing will be inconsequential what made them to show the green light for the eventIJ
Such approach of the organisers towards sports is unacceptable. These athletes have been supported by hockey legend Dilip Tirky and middle distance runner Bhupinder Singh, both members of BJD in the Rajya Sabha. They have apprised the Sports Minister about this development asking him to intervene. Having created national records in their events Srabani and Amiya look satisfied but they are not sure whether they can have a repeat performance in their second attempt. All said and done, should the athletes be punished for none of their faultIJ It seems Odisha is discriminated against in the national sports arena and if it is true then disastrous consequence is ahead of us.
Vedanta still left in lurch
Despite huge investment for an alumina refinery unit at lanjigarh in Kalahandi, Vedanta could not earn the public support in favour of its establishment. After 12 years, it could not win public support despite spending over Rs 175 crore in the CSR activities. Schools and hospitals were established; mobile health units reached out to remote inaccessible villages; mid-day meals were provided to 18,000 students of 187 schools, besides starting sustainable livelihood initiatives for creating job opportunities. Vedanta became a role model of CSR activities in the State. It almost worked like an auxiliary unit of the State Government and brought out a transformation of lanjigarh into a mini town from a sleepy village. Once known for rampant malaria deaths, there has been no casualty of the disease in the past three years. Still the aluminum major failed to win public confidence and support as politically vested interests and dubious NGOs ruled the roost. They misled the tribals by planting false stories regarding the Niyamgiri hills and their dogmatic religious faith pampered to the hilt. Gram sabhas were managed and the jungles of lanjigarh virtually turned into the habitat of Maoists and the Dongria Kondhs are today marginalised from the mainstream of development. The BJD Government on whose invitation Anil Agrawal and his team came to Odisha did not provide a fair deal to them. The fate of the plant is now hinged on a Supreme Court decision.