Commotion mars State Assembly session
The State Assembly witnessing pandemonium over minor and major issues, though unfortunate, is now a regular feature. This time it was over suicide of a farmer in Bargarh district due to crop loss and distress sale of vegetables. Khainu Bagarti, the Bargarh farmer who committed suicide, was a victim of callousness. The lift irrigation point on which he and other farmers were depending remained nonfunctional due to erratic power supply. leader of Opposition (loP) Narasingha Mishra came down heavily on the State Government and held it responsible for the death of Bagarti. The Speaker asked the Agriculture Minister for a statement in the House. On Thursday, there was no business transaction as the House was stalled due to the BJD MlA’s barb against the Prime Minister. The BJP members rushed to the well of the House and tried to snatch the mike from the Speaker’s podium. The growing tendency among the Congress and the BJP members to stall the House on the slightest pretext is a bad omen for democracy. Elected members not performing their primary function of discussing issues of public interest in the Assembly is simply not acceptable.
Odisha’s Nabakalebar in 2019!
After paying obeisance to lord Jagannath for his party’s impressive performance in the polls, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters that there is going to be a political Nabakalebar of Odisha after the next Assembly elections. During the last five phase PRI polls, the BJP on an average won 60 ZP seats and its juggernaut looked unstoppable all though. There was at least a wind blowing in its favour, if not a whirlwind to sweep across the State. The win in 297 ZP seats in total was unexpected by the insiders, including the die-hard supporters and even by those who are experts in poll forecast. After coming out of the sanctum sanctorum, perhaps charged with a divine spirit, his forecast for a political transformation of the State was certainly not a statement meant for the gallery.
Smart City, smart posting
Additional District Magistrate of Rourkela Manisha Banerjee has been asked to hold charges of as many as four departments. Besides the post of ADM, she holds charge as Secretary Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) and now, she has been given charge as Commissioner of Rourkela Municipal Corporation as well as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Never in the history of Odisha has a junior IAS officer been asked to simultaneously function in four important areas where a great amount of public dealing is involved. It seems the Government of Odisha is starved of officers in the senior IAS level or it doesn’t repose confidence in the senior level OAS officers, let alone those promoted from the ranks. Consequently, Akshaya Kumar Mallick, an OAS (A) grade officer who was functioning as Commissioner of RMC, is in a hanging position without any portfolio. His predecessor Durga Prasad Mohapatra, who was instrumental in giving the Smart City tag to Rourkela, was recently transferred and he was replaced by Mallick. Transferring of Mohapatra who has had complete grip over Rourkela’s strengths and weaknesses is shrouded in mystery. Dislodging Mallick, reported to be an honest officer, from the post RMC Commissioner smells a rat and has become even more mysterious. Has it something to do with the huge amount of money which is coming to the Smart City account that needs a cunning officer to handleIJ Be that as it may, something hot and sour is cooking up and that is not in the interest of the Rourkelities who have high hopes from the elevated status of the city. People now question the transparency of the General Administration Department and its surprising moves in transfer and posting of high officials where questions of integrity and public accountability are involved.
Now, no largesse to RSP non-employees
When former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru conceived the idea of introducing public sector undertakings in the country, he had linked them to welfare of the poor Indians in general and giving employment to a large section of people in particular. That’s why he called these undertakings ‘temples of modern India’. He didn’t ever imagine that these undertakings will become purely commercial and run away from the humanitarian values which gave wings to his dreams. SAIl, being one of the largest public sector undertakings, has all along been committed for a resurgent India ensuring food, clothes and house for all. While the new technology and automation have thrown lakhs of people out of employment, SAIl’s blue chip plant Rourkela is now on a spree to withdraw whatever little largesse it had given to its stakeholders and the example is RSP’s recent hike in rent for various categories of quarters by 4 to 5 times. If a circular issued by the plant’s estate office is to be relied upon, then the plight of the non-employees allotted with RSP quarters has come to the fore. For example, the journalists who are allotted various categories of quarters will now pay almost five times of the present rent, besides water and electricity charges. Similarly, the private schools where employees’ children are students will suffer the most. Voluntary sports and cultural organisations will close their shutters. The circular with its monstrous design has grappled the imagination of many in the steel city. With no choice left, amalgamation of the industrial town with that of the Smart City could be the next step where people will have justice for all.