Jaitley in Navin Niwas: BJP, BJD cozying upIJ
BJP’s national president Amit Shah while addressing the party’s mega rally in Bhubaneswar last week asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to list out his achievements during BJD’s last 17 years’ rule. But he spared him on the issues of Mahanadi and chit fund. Was it intentionalIJ Yes, says the State Congress. This has been corroborated by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley when he accepted the CM’s invitation and had lunch with him at Navin Niwas, says leader of Opposition (loP) Narasingha Mishra. According to Mishra, the luncheon meet, clearly a courtesy call, is termed as lunch politics that indicates the secret honeymooning of the two parties and therefore, not in the interest of Odisha. The hatchet is buried under the Mahanadi water. They also said the rally was a flop. Odisha unit of BJP has been asked to release its trailer in the forthcoming Panchayat elections followed by the film in 2019 general elections. Be that as it may, the trailblazing leadership is yet to emerge in BJP because of factionalism in Odisha. But Naveen Patnaik never harbours in fool’s paradise. He is unlike Mamata Banerjee as the latter would not surrender before Modi even at the cost of the State’s interest. The Odisha CM’s policy is: Continue to blame the Centre for neglecting the State and grab the doles offered by them when opportunity arrives. That is how he has been congratulated by the Centre for going with it on two financial reforms i.e. GST and demonetisation.
Make in Odisha: Success lies in grounding projects
The Make in Odisha Conclave culminated with an assurance of over Rs 2 lakh crore investment in various projects of Odisha which will create direct employment opportunity for 1.4 lakh people. The investment assurance is for 10 different sectors facilitating industrial growth. With an investment-friendly climate existing in the State, there shall be a cataclysmic change in the industrial canvas of Odisha by 2025. But then, the conclave was not sure of its destination and in the absence of a pan Odisha view, it defied the acceptance of a majority of people living in remote areas of the State. Although it will be too early to comment on location of the projects, Odisha’s hinterland is not likely to get benefit and therefore the response from other parts of Odisha was lukewarm. Brave utterance of the ethanol plant and use of agricultural wastages for recycling purpose with an investment of Rs 90 crore by IOCl was soothing for the ear because everything is not Bhubaneswar- centric. Despite Posco’s final exit and Vedanta gasping for raw material, the corporate honchos have praised the pro-industry climate of the State. The real challenge, however, will surface in the second stage, i.e. during the period of implementation. A smooth walk the talk can be predicted only if the areas or districts likely to benefit from the projects are available in details. lack of an industrial work culture, especially in coastal districts of Odisha, will be a major impediment. That’s the real crux of the matter and politicians are better advised not to indulge in who takes lunch where and with whom and speculations leading to political plus minus. The conclave which began with a bang should not end in a whimper.
RDA row: BJD Press meet fiasco in S’garh
On the eve of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to Sundargarh, his second in the last fortnight, BJD office bearers of Biramitrapur constituency held a Press meet at Pantha Niwas Rourkela. Former MlA Nihar Surin and his colleagues addressed the scribes and members of the visual media spitting venom against MlA George Tirkey. They intended to expose the anti development stand of Tirkey citing his opposition to inclusion of nine villages of Kuarnmunda block in Rourkela Development Authority (RDA). Being a RDA related issue, its Chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak was conspicuous in his absence. For him, preparatory work for CM’s visit must have outweighed the issue at stake. But worried as they are, the BJD team of Biramitrapur was there for an impromptu Press meet which ran into a fiasco because of mishandling by Nihar Surin. Even the interference of spokesman Sudam Das could not diffuse the situation. But district vice president Sandhya lakra lived up to her reputation of presenting a bold face. She replied as to how the BJD Government under the leadership of CM Patnaik has successfully completed some major development projects despite opposition by Tirkey. But then, most of the questions remained unanswered as pandemonium prevailed. Being disgruntled the mediapersons left the meet when it was half way through.
Slow Talcher-B’lagarh rly: CM owes an answer
The Talcher-Bimlagarh rail project is likely to miss the deadline set for completion because of delay by the State Government in acquiring land and converting the status of forest land into revenue land. The Central Government in different periods of time has sanctioned a sum of Rs 795.5 crore for this purpose, out of which the State Government has spent only Rs 167.15 crore and the balance amount remains unutilized. Bonai Bikash Parishad and Rail Users Association, Rourkela have been raising the issue from time to time and pressurising the railway authorities and the State officials to expedite the construction of the project. According to the project details, the Talcher- Bimlagarh section has 13 stations spread over a distance of 154 km out of which 10 km rail route from Talcher to Kaniha has been completed by NTPC for transportation of its own raw materials. Another patch of 10 km from Kaniha to Sunakhani has been completed during 2007-08 financial year. The Angul district administration has completed the land acquisition process for its 40-km stretch from Kaniha and tenders have been floated to begin the work. But there is delay in laying of the rail track because of slow progress in land acquisition work from Bimlagarh side. Timely completion of the rail project could ensure socio-economic development of one patch of Odisha covering Rourkela, Bonai, Deogarh, Telkoi, Pallahara and Talcher giving benefits to 40,000 passengers on a daily basis. People of Rourkela could get relief from travelling 116 km extra with rail tariff reduced proportionately. Deogarh could get itself identified in the country’s railway map. People wait for an answer from none other than the Chief Minister. He should be reminded that such lapses might shatter his dreams of converting Odisha into an industrially-developed State.