Rail Budget: Odisha share welcoming
By providing Rs 700 crore for Khurda Road- Bolangir rail line out of a total provision of Rs 5,102 crore, the Finance Minister in his dispensation has done justice to Odisha and as such, there should be no room for complainant by the ever demanding Odisha state. The average budget provision for development of railways in Odisha during the last three years has been at an average of Rs 3,286 crore. The current budget ensures adequate funding not only for ongoing projects but also to support new projects besides doubling of rail lines. Earlier, low expenditure of funds in railway project of Odisha remained a concern. Setting up of periodical electric loco overhauling workshop and freight train maintenance facility with routine overhauling wagons were announced to be set up in Kalahandi and Sambalpur districts with estimated cost of Rs 186.37 crore and Rs 49.16 crore respectively. Besides survey for 11 new lines were declared for Odisha in the budget which includes the 35km new line between Bhawanipatna-Kesinga- via Utkela. This was a long standing demand which the Railway Minister has heeded. Intention of the Railways being honourable, Odisha’s complaint against the Centre like a nagging wife is definitely inconsiderate and therefore ‘politically motivated’.
PRI polls in scheduled areas against PESA Act
Following instructions of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj to the Chief Secretary of Odisha for effective implementation of the PESA Act, the State Election Commission (SEC) should have been asked to stop election in the notified scheduled areas of the State, particularly in the context of the prevailing extremism. The Government of India by enacting the Act has fixed modalities and issued guidelines for constitution of Gram Sabhas for administration of the scheduled areas. Notification of three-tier Panchayati Raj elections for these scheduled areas contravenes the provisions of the PESA Act. As such, the power delegated to the Gram Sabha by the Union Government for implementation of policies and programmes is hardly of any consequences as both can’t run together. Provisions of PESA are for exclusive development of tribal communities specifically in the scheduled areas. The dual system in the administration of Panchayats is therefore dichotomous and calls for immediate settlement between the State and the Centre. The Indigenous People’s Forum, Odisha has submitted a memorandum to the State Election Commission (SEC) to which the latter has not responded. The issue may be challenged in the court of law in the post PRI election. Election is not a State subject and therefore, its ramifications are very far and wide.
let R’kela cops break colonial mindset
A foolproof security system being an important norm of a Smart City, the Rourkela police should have a list of both public and private security units registered under DGR or PSARA providing security to different organizations in Rourkela police district. There is no reason why the Rourkela police should take amiss such information if sought under the provisions of RTI. If the police expect the public within its jurisdiction to remain passive onlookers without reaction, then it is perhaps wondering in a make-belief world. Rourkela SP Anirudha Kumar Singh has designated a DSP rank officer from the DIB (District Intelligence Bureau) as public information officer (PIO) so that any request made to provide information can be denied under section 24 of the Act taking shelter under sensibility of intelligence information. Intelligence wing of the Government is exempted from the purview of the RTI Act by a Government order, but that must not include information of general nature under the cover of sensitive intelligence information. An appeal is said to have been made before the State Information Commission on this denial and the commissioner’s views will be of interest to all RTI activists of the State. Meanwhile, the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhiyan and the human rights organisations have appealed to Rourkela citizens to break their silence as a pressure group asking the police to shun their colonial mindset and to become transparent and accountable as public servants.
K’handi hosp: Sweepers act nurses; nurses docs
Inadequacy of doctors against the required number in the Sub-Divisional Hospital (SDH) at Dharmagarh and lack of proper care and attention to both indoor and outdoor patients are the common allegations of the patients who come to the hospital for treatment. Now, this hospital has developed a tendency of referring the patients not only to hospitals of Bisam Cuttack and Navrangpur within the state but also to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh where medical treatment is costly. The local hospital is not even equipped to treat malaria, which has become a killer disease now for those coming from Chhattisgarh and the neighboring Nuapada district. In the absence of doctors, the sweepers act as nurses and nurses as doctors. Diarrhoea patients are prescribed medicines which are not available in the hospital and as such, they are force to buy R/l, cipro and metro injection from the market.