At a time when the NDA Government at the Centre has already conducted three meetings of the newly reconstituted Niti Ayog to strengthen the planning process in the country within 10 months after it came to power, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in Odisha, since coming to power in 2000, seems to have always worked to destroy and dismantle the planning process as evident from the affairs of the State Planning Board.
Though the State Planning Board was constituted under the Vice-Chairmanship of Surendra Nayak, not a single meeting of the board was held during that period from 2009 to 2014.
Interestingly, two prominent figures from civil society AV Swamy, now a Rajya Sabha member, and Jo Mediath, Director, Gram Vikash, an NGO, were inducted as State Planning Board Members. But they had neither given any suggestion to the Government nor contributed anything otherwise to the planning process in the State nor written a single request letter to the Chief Minister to call meeting of the board during the five years of their tenure.
On the other hand, these two persons marketed their designation as Members of the State Planning Board in different fields, allege activists. An RTI query recently revealed that not a single member has been appointed in the Planning Board since last one year.
RN Das, former Union Government Secretary, was appointed as Advisor to the board on November 13 last year with the responsibility to focus on skill mission, food production, food security mission and shelter mission. Not a single pie has been paid towards his salary, but he has received Rs 8,646 towards his travel allowance, said Planning and Coordination Department PIO in response to an RTI query filed by activist Pradip Pradhan.
The PIO also informed that Planning Board Vice-Chairman N Bhaskar Rao has not received any payment till yet. It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister is the Chairman of the board.