less than a month ago, they in large numbers, were seen roaming around lanes and by-lanes of the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) area.
They were Ministers, MlAs and who’s who in the Naveen Patnaik regime. They had made the area as their second home because of the elections to the urban local bodies (UlBs) in Ganjam district. But no Minister or MlA was at sight just after the Silk City was devastated by cyclone Phailin. It was only officers who came to the residents’ rescue during the crisis.
Beginning, from the job of evacuation till the distribution of relief materials and compensation payments, the officers undertook every operation with the ruling BJD leaders playing no role.
“It would have been politically beneficial for the BJD had Naveen Patnaik engaged senior leaders in most of the activities carried out by officers,” said a political observer. Of late, the Chief Minister has called upon his party men and women to support the people hit by the twin calamities of cyclone and floods. But many people have started asking where the Ministers and MlAs were during the earlier time of the crisisIJ
So, perhaps feeling the pulse of the people, Patnaik has rushed three senior Ministers to different affected areas. While Minister of Panchayati Raj Kalpataru Das has been sent to Brahmapur, Agriculture Minister Debi Prasad Mishra has been given the charge of Baleswar and Health Minister Damodar Rout is in Baripada to oversee relief and rescue operations.