Ruling BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik made a scathing attack on his own party Government both in and outside the State Assembly on Tuesday.
Patnaik told reporters outside the House that the prevailing “Officer Raj” spells a threat to democracy.
Raising the issue of rising women liquor consumers in the State in the Assembly, Patnaik said that more women are taking liquor in Odisha than other States, particularly Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
But the State Government has no data on this. Officers are either telling lie or making the MLAs as liars, he said and asked, "Why and how we (MLAs) would be part of the House with such false information?"
Patnaik sought construction of a barrage on the Kuakhai river and demanded conservation of water resources in and around Bhubaneswar.
He said that only accusing Chhattisgarh for the Mahanadi mess is not enough: you need to do more. Rather than conserving water of the Mahanadi and other rivers, the State Government is losing it to sea as runoff water.