BJP’s fresh charge against Naveen
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came out of the Naveen Niwas to hold ‘Janata Darwar’ after his party’s debacle in the three-tier panchayat polls followed by an unusual overdrive to remain in public view at least till the next general elections. This was part of a package of strategies adopted and orchestrated from behind the scene by the bureaucrats of ‘3rd floor’ in the State Secretariat. The Opposition alleged that the India Today cover story, and the ‘best administrator’ award of Outlook were sponsored for the CM’s image makeover exercise. So also are the felicitation programmes organised by his party men all across the State meant for. Hardly had the euphoria died down, another strong allegation levelled by BJP Vice-President Bhrugu Baxipatra has started doing rounds. This time it is about the CM’s fake twitter account hike reflecting the number of his followers swelling incredibly to 9,000 per day in July and August though the number added to his twitter handle was only 100 per day before July, 2017. The root cause behind this so called soaring popularity of Patnaik in social media over the last two months has been the use of robot or automated programmes to create fake profiles. “The Chief Minister is misleading youths through fabricated information. We have found nearly 6,500 such fake accounts in our survey,” said Baxipatra. His number of twitter users in Odisha is less than three lakhs and it is unusual to add so many followers in such a short time, he added. Chandra Sarathi Behera, Minister for Electronics and IT said, this had been possible due to the CM’s pro-people programme. But why was he keeping these programmes a secret so longIJ As it seems, the CM’s image makeover package remains miles away from truth. It will be interesting to see as to what comes out of the Pandora’s Box, nextIJ
Respect teachers, pay them due salary
Despite two rounds of talks between the striking leaders and top notch Government officials, including the Ministers, having failed, the 13th day long agitation of the United Forum for Block Grant School and College Teachers Association still remains alive. As the impasse continues, on the Ganesh Puja, the agitating teachers chose the streets as the place of worship with prayer to rekindle the good sense of the CM. To press their demands further, the teachers have completely stopped teaching in 662 and 488 groups of colleges, besides in thousands of block grant schools. 60,000 teachers are on strike which has hampered the future of 15 lakh students of the State. Meanwhile, hearing of a case filed in the Supreme Court with 7,000 Block Grant teachers as party, has been deferred to October 4. They have moved the Supreme Court praying for higher salary. The one and a half hours meeting which remained incomplete will resume on Monday, according to the latest information.
Danas, Nagadas still aplenty in Odisha
Odisha’s health and education sectors have always remained neglected probably due to the fact that the Government doesn’t generate revenue in these sectors whereas the expenditure falls far short of budget. The story is similar to investment on infrastructure like school and hospital buildings. Even as Nagada finally gets road connectivity with a private bus rolling from the capital city recently, floods have washed away roads in interior pockets of the State disrupting communication to a large extent. Similarly, a year after Dana Majhi incident, things remain unchanged at Melghara village under Nakrundi gram panchayat of Thuamul Rampur block in Kalahandi district. Development is still miles away from the small tribal village where around 200 people comprising 55 families live in utter distress. The July 15 flash floods have washed away culverts over Amjhola, Panjidar and Kargul nullahs that surround the village. No four wheelers can reach Melghara. Stories of patients carried on stretchers made of bamboo for miles to reach the nearest PHC or CHC is a regular affair. After Dana Majhi carrying his wife’s body on his shoulder for a distance of 10 km hit the media headlines, funds in lakhs from various quarters poured in. He also got housing assistance under Indira Awas Yojana. But the overall condition of the village remains as it was a year back. The Melghara Primary School building is in dilapidated condition and the Nakrundi PHC which is run on PPP mode is in a bad shape. lack of education and health facility has left the villagers in the lurch whereas the Government claims ‘all is well.’
Rayagada cut off villages need industry, road
Development of a region is very intimately connected with infrastructure and road connectivity is one among the primary needs. Kashipur and Muniguda are two border blocks of Rayagada adjacent to Kalahandi district which are the worst sufferers in this respect.
Kashipur leads with 166 revenue villages having no roads connectivity followed by Muniguda with 150 villages deprived of roads connecting the block headquarters. According to the Government policy, a village with 200-population should get a road under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana and a village with minimum 100 population should get one under the Mukhyamantri Sadak Yojana. Despite allocation of required funds, the Government machineries have failed to deliver and the reasons are best known only to them. This point came up for a threadbare discussion in the district development and co-ordination committe meeting held a couple of months back and it remains to be seen as to when and in what manner these roads are laid in the times to come. lack of roads provides is an advantage to the Maoists to spread their presence in the area and operate without any hindrance. A series of malnutrition deaths in Nagada in Sukinda Mines area of Jajpur district and cross firing by the SOG jawans in a fake encounter with the Maoists near Gumdumuha have exposed the deplorable condition of the villages in the public domain incurring a lot of flak for the ruling entity of the State.
Ravaged by floods, the district is further cut off with many remote areas and unless the road construction work is taken up on a war footing, a large chunk of population will continue to live in extreme inhuman conditions. The minerals-rich district needs support of Nalco, HAl, Vedanta, Utkal Alumina, besides medium industries like IMFA , JK Paper Mill et al to tide over the situation.