With tenure of the current lok Sabha completing three years now, it seems the BJP’s lone MP from Odisha has overshadowed the BJD’s 20 lok Sabha members in the Member of Parliament’s local Area Development (MPlAD) barometers like ensuring fund release, recommending most works and also ensuring sanction from the district administrations.
According to MPlAD data available till the April-end, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, elected from the Sundargarh constituency, conspicuously pips his BJD counterparts in the MPlAD scheme under which the Centre releases Rs 5 crore in two instalments annually to undertake welfare projects for people of a constituency.
Oram topped the State’s MPs by recommending works worth a whopping Rs 21 crore and he also remained ahead in sanctioning of the released amount for the recommended works while the Sundargarh district authorities sanctioned worth over Rs 15 crore.
The surprising revelation, however, is when reforms in ease of doing business and putting timeframes for speedier rollout of projects has been the buzz in the State Government, the BJD MPs seem to have been entangled in red-tapism web that affected adversely their MPlAD performance.
Oram emerged as a big mover when the fact is the Sundargarh district administration was able to submit timely Monthly Progress Reports (MPRs), Utilisation Certificates (UCs) to ensure hassle-free release of half-yearly instalments for the recommended works.
In contrast, despite the BJD being in Government, a high of its 16 MPs saw stoppage of funds for their recommended works as the respective district administrations failed to provide the required MPRs and UCs in time. For this, instalments of five BJD MPs remained stuck since the financial year of 2015-16. These BJD MPs include two, ladu Kishore Swain of Aska under which the CM’s Assembly constituency Hinjli falls and Siddhant Mahapatra of Brahmapur belonging to the CM’s home district Ganjam.
Among the BJD performers, Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan and Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda topped the list with recommendations worth of Rs 18.9 crore works from 2014 to 2017. And Koraput MP Jhina Hikaka had the poorest show by recommending mere Rs 9 crore works during 2014-17.
However, in amount sanctioned against recommended amounts, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi topped the BJD list. But Majhi’s constituency figured third lowest in utilisation of the sanctioned amount after Koraput and Sambalpur.
An analysis of the cost of cumulative works sanctioned as per the MPs’ recommendations reveals how a majority of MPs vouch more for community halls than basic needs like water, roads and health services. The result: in percentage terms, the cumulative cost of sanctioned works by MPs for drinking water facilities is a mere 4 per cent and a meagre 1.6 per cent for sanitation and public health. Road works account for only 23 per cent when the national average is 28 per cent; whereas in community halls the national average is 28 per cent against Odisha’s 36 per cent.