The Utkal Sammilani has demanded that BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik entrust party leaders with the responsibility of ‘border protection’ as he is doing for other sectors like art and culture and women empowerment.
“It is matter of happiness that the BJD, despite being a political party, is looking after different sectors by entrusting charges to general secretaries and vice-presidents. But it is a matter of concern that the party has forgotten about unsafe borders of our State,” observed Sammilani Mancheswar Industrial Estate Branch president Dillip Dashsharma.
He said that Odisha has border disputes on all sides with Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. While dispute over Kotia gram panchayat still persists with Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal claims many villages in Baleswar district’s Bhogarai and Jaleshwar Tehsils as its own. Chhattisgarh has started railway works for establishment of an industry in Odisha’s Jharigaon. Despite these, Polavarm project issue and Mahanadi water dispute have soured relationship of Odisha with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, respectively.
“The Utakal Sammilani has been demanding creation of a “Border Protection Department’ for long which is still to be met by the Government. Let the BJD president appoint senior leaders for looking after border issues,” requested Dashsharma.