Vendetta politics: Petrol pumps may be next target
The Vigilance wing of the State Home Department tries to claim its independence while wielding its authority on the general public. But the truth is the other way round. Vigilance sleuths recently swooped down on various gas agencies under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s bête noire Dharmendra Pradhan. One such agency, Pradhan Gas Agency owned by Soumendra Kumar Pradhan, Dharmendra’s brother, of Talcher was raided and the owner was booked for various irregularities. As inquiry against this particular gas agency could have raised doubts about the State Government’s political motive and as such, 17 gas agencies and filling stations were inspected in 13 districts. This was followed by verification of lPG stocks and scrutiny of documents in 10 different gas agencies. After the CBI raids at houses of various BJD leaders, the Vigilance raids at the house of Pradhan is seen as vendetta politics. The BJD Government seems to be pursuing a tit for tat policy. Petrol pumps may be the BJD’s next target if the vendetta politics is stretched further.
BJD’s populist drive
Welfare schemes in Odisha have a history of running into vacancy hurdle. lack of infrastructure in several key departments and large scale vacancies in the Panchyati Raj Department has made implementation of development schemes difficult. Posts of Block Development Officers (BDO) in 20 of the 314 blocks of the State are vacant along with nearly one third posts of additional BDOs which have not been filled up. Similarly more than 100 posts of ABDOs are vacant. Moreover, when each panchayat gets more than Rs10 crore for implementation of various schemes, there are accounts officers only in 209 of 314 blocks. Majority of the vacant posts are in tribal dominated districts of Rayagada, Koraput and Kandhamal. Significantly, posts of 130 Progress Assistant (PA) in 29 districts are vacant. The highest vacancy of 38,717 posts is in the School and Mass Education Department while the Health Department has 12,167 vacancies. The Home Department, which is under the Chief Minister for 17 years, now has a vacancy of 16,386 posts. I this context, the announcement of welfare schemes for the people appears voter-driven and populist.
RTI activist harassed
Cases of harassment to RTI activists by powerful officers supposed to provide information legally sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act are galore in the country; and Odisha is no exception. One such example has come to light where an ex-serviceman retired from Army after 16 years of meritorious service is threatened by one Superintendent of Police posted in Rourkela. The SP known as Anirudha Singh, being the first Appellate Authority, has mishandled a case out of sheer arrogance. Information was sought from the SP office regarding the number of private security guards working in various establishments within his jurisdiction and as to whether the employers have necessary licence to recruit, train and deploy them to those establishments. This information is relevant from the point of view of internal security vis-à-vis the incidents of insurgency and Mao activism and to that extent the applicant enjoys his right over information from the authorities concerned. In the absence of such information, the applicant should have been replied in the manner deemed legally justified by the authorities. But the SP took the matter to a personal level and started behaving discourteously trying to generate a fear psychosis in him. In a bid to terrorize the Army Jawan and subdue him, Singh threatened to smash his business and arrest him on some ploy or the other. Being aggrieved, the retired Army personnel has now appealed to the DG of Police, Odisha with a copy forwarded to the Human Rights Commission and Union Home Secretary for protection of his right as a citizen of India. Here the question is whether an officer in the rank of a SP can behave with an ordinary citizen in this fashionIJ Shouldn’t such highhandedness of an IPS officer be nipped in the bud by handing out an appropriate lesson so that the law abiding citizens of our country eke out their earning peacefully for a decent livingIJ
Drinking water a far cry
As many as 265 habitations in the State do not get safe drinking water as it is contaminated with fluoride and heavy metal, among other elements. 2,808 villages of Odisha are found to be using ground water hazardous for human health as problem of ground water contamination persists in 18 districts of the State. For paucity of fund, the State Government planned to cover only 38 habitations with a population of 16,560 under rural water supply scheme during 2016-17 and by end of October, provided safe drinking water to 151 villages with a population of 84,654. The Centre had sanctioned Rs1,000 crore for improving drinking water quality where Odisha’s share stood at a paltry Rs2 crore. As such, the Central assistance was too small to install community water purification plants. The Central assistance for the State under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme in the current fiscal is only Rs100 crore. The State Government’s budgetary allocation for 600 rural water supply schemes, argumentation of 500 pipe water supply projects, construction of 300 overhead tanks and 500 iron removal units is Rs988.2 crore in 2016-17. In the absence of separate budgetary provision for safe drinking water and going by the performance of the State to complete projects without time and cost overrun, is it not amazing that the Government has failed to provide clean drinking water to all its citizens in its long 16 years’ ruleIJ So, the schemes like pucca houses for all with health, hygiene and sanitation, besides education and health services remain a far cry.