Dissent on rise in BJD post Ministry rejig
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik went for a Ministry reshuffle last week by inducting 10 new Ministers and elevating two Ministers of state to Cabinet rank. The young brigade of the CM perhaps could not measure up to his expectation. Some of them are tainted and others failed miserably in their constituencies in the PRI polls and there was no alternative before the CM than to show them the door. But speculations are rife that the reshuffle will boomerang as dissents are surfacing increasingly in the party.
The BJD leaders are now leaving the party like the proverbial mouse leaving the ship before drowning. Optimists in the Opposition camp are predicting a split in the party with emergence of a new BJD minus Naveen.
The Ministers who have been dropped from the ‘Team Naveen’ have been given the charge of consolidating the organization in the district level. The CM reviewing the PRI poll results with the Panchayat level members along with a massive reshuffle in the organisation and the Ministry were steps to curb the increasing popularity of BJP in Odisha but a question remains is whether the dislodged Ministers will go for a massive drive to strengthen the party and keep the organisation intactIJ On the backdrop of this, the whole exercise of Naveen is going to be futile, if political analysts are to be believed.
DQ scam: Why inordinate delays in Vigilance probeIJ
A number of CDA, BDA and Housing Board plots and houses have been grabbed by influential people including politicians and bureaucrats under the self-regulated quota of the Minister in-charge for Housing and Urban Development.
The quota system though lifted subsequently, the Chief Minister appointed a task force headed by the then HUD Secretary Tara Dutta. The task force later submitted its report which was given to the Vigilance for inquiry. later, the vigilance registered as many as 79 cases against the beneficiaries. Of them BDA had 27 cases, the Housing Board had 23 and the CDA topped the list with 29 cases.
Here the number is not important but names of influential persons who figured in the task force report are surprisingly missing from the CDA list. The Vigilance had asked the CDA to provide the list of persons included in the task force report. The list submitted now is a mismatch of the earlier report as names of many influential persons are missing from the list. This is despite the fact that the CDA has not taken any action to cancel the plots. Taking advantage of the situation, the plot holders are secretly planning to sell their land.
A glaring case of fraud has come to limelight now after almost a decade. One Minister during the BJD-BJP coalition time had pressurised the lAC for allotment of a commercial plot measuring of 5,550 square feet. It was allotted under the Minister’s self-regulated quota to one woman leader of his party. Tara Dutta had pin pointed this case in his report submitted to the Vigilance. Similarly there are more skeletons in the cupboard and the public has a right to know about this scam.
Fluoride level high in water of 10 Kalahandi blocks
Consumption of fluoride contained water taking its toll on people at least in 10 out of 13 blocks of Kalahandi district is a matter of concern. People with crippled bones and damaged joints and children with stained or broken teeth are a common sight in several villages of the district.
Born out of using contaminated water, the disease was first detected in the Golamunda block where fluoride content was found to be more than the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/1 in the water sources, particularly tube-wells.
later regular tube well water sample tests in RWSS laboratories in Bhawanipatna revealed that ground water in more areas of the district is getting contaminated by fluoride. Pipe water supply is provided only in Brundabahal, Chapria, Grindol, Udeisrung and Tumra villages of Golamunda block, which are more affected by the disease. Several villages of Narla, Karla Munda and Bhawanipatna block have been affected by fluoride contamination.
The RWSS executive engineer says, provision of pipe water from river heads to the affected pockets in phases has been given priority. Pipe water is lifted from river Ret which was commissioned in 2009, but supply has been erratic. Several years on, people of the district are suffering from the debilitating disease but remedial measures undertaken by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Department is abysmally low.
Rourkela: Drug peddlers active, cops mute spectators
Rourkela, comparatively a peaceful city, is gradually turning into aden of criminals and the reason ascribed to such a turnaround is thesale of illegal foreign and country liquor along with charas, ganza, heroine et al, right under the nose of the police and the excise officials with their eyes shut.
With the summer vacation on, the students take it as a part time business without knowing that they themselves are falling prey to consumption of these banned items. The Supreme Court order to ban sale of liquor within 500 meters from the National Highways has encouraged illegal sale of liquor, both foreign and country made, in hotels and dhabas. During noon and the evening hours, the liquor and the drug mafias openly carry them on their scooters and motor cycles to the hotel and dhaba owners. Although there is a drastic need to break this supply chain the police and the excise officials get the patronage of their perpetrators to mint money. The Excise Department is a silent onlooker to this unfortunate situation. The Deputy Excise Superintendent of Rourkela has no time to check the menace along with the cops as he shuttles between Rourkela and Sambalpur getting busy with his family affairs. Now if the student mass becomes wayward under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the civil society members are the sheer bystanders, whom do we blameIJ