The State Planning Board headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has not met for the last nine years from October 15, 2007 till date.
Planning and Coordination Minister Usha Devi furnished this information in the State Assembly in response to a question of BJP MlA DiliP Ray on Wednesday.
From the information, it is learnt that the State Planning Board has met only three times in 16 years from March 2000 till date. The board had met on May 9, 2003, August 8, 2008 and October 15, 2007, the Minister informed.
However, the Minister said the Government has a proposal to reconstitute the board, and, hence, has appointed RN Das as Advisor and Sujit Kuamar as Special Officer on Duty in the board with Minister of State status and Special Secretary Status, respectively. Das is getting Rs 23,000 as salary, Rs 10,000 as conveyance allowance and Rs 24,000 towards other allowances per month. Sujit Kumar is getting a salary in the scale of Rs 37,400-Rs 77,000 and Grade Pay of Rs 10,000, the Minister said.
In response to another question of Ray, the Minister said the Regional Imbalance Probe Committee formed on February 20, 2004 under chairmanship of former High Court Judge SK Mohanty with Secretaries of 11 Departments as members had submitted its report to the Government on August 6 2008. A subcommittee has been formed to look into the recommendations of the committee. The subcommittee has met once in years of 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2015. As the subcommittee is still examining the recommendations, the recommendations are yet to be implemented, informed Usha Devi.
Commenting on the reply, MlA Ray said non-implementation of the recommendations of the Regional Imbalance Probe Committee indicates that the Government has no interest for development of backward regions.