Bijepur by-poll: Factors against BJP, BJD
The hype over the coming Bijepur by-election is gathering momentum on each passing day. BJD boss and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken it as if heaven will fall if his party does not come out victorious. He is confronted with a do-or-die situation because BJP’s win will not only send a negative signal for him in next Assembly and general elections, but the BJD’s arch bête noire may hit its 120+ target with a positive note. Even as both of them are leaving no stone unturned to capture the constituency, it is lively that some local factors may act to the detriment of BJP ticket aspirant Ashok Panigrahi. They factor may work even against the BJD as the locals have started maligning Ritarani Sahu for having deserted the Congress which gave her husband three consecutive wins. That late Subal Sahoo had made up his mind for a switch over to the BJD before his death is a concocted story by the rumor-mongers, mostly the BJD supporters. The Congress may save its skin by fielding a local candidate in fray to gain from the troubled waters but the BJP will exhaust all its cards, including the influence of politicians from neighbouring Chhattisgarh. But the Chhattisgarh leaders may not weave their magic this time again in the Mahanadi issue. The BJP had increased its vote percentage in the last Panchayat election by roping in Chhatisgarh CM Raman Singh as one of the star campaigners and had reaped huge dividends.
Baishnab: No more crocodile tears please!
The real face of former MP (Rajya Sabha) Baishnab Parida is now before the public. People came to know that his love and respect for Naveen Patnaik was in a veiled form. He has launched his tirade against Patnaik on his inability t speak Odia, who once upon a time was his god father and in his opinion the most competent CM Odisha had ever produced. Fallen from grace, Parida has now trained his gun towards the big-belly CM asking him even to step down on the issue of Odia language that never impressed him during his 17- year- rule. He has even forgotten Abhaya Padhi of Sambalpur who was once appointed as his Odia tutor, though there was nothing official about the appointment. Born from the womb of a Punjabi mother, Naveen’s mother tongue is Punjabi and everybody loves his mother tongue. But Parida says, being at the State’s helm of affairs, it becomes his responsibility towards the people to directly talk to them and not through the interpreters. Parida knows well and it can serve as a reminder to him that around 30 per cent of the State’s population speaks Kosli and use Odia script while writing. As a lover of mother tongue, has he ever thought as a Parliamentarian that a large section of Odisha populace is screaming for their mother tongue Kosli to be included in the 8th schedule and why has he not spoken a word in its favour is a moot questionIJ
Game on with mosquitoes: A tale of K’handi
Some 40 years back, Phasnpunji of Amlapali village of Nuapada, part of the then undivided Kalahandi district, hungrily sold her sister-in-law for Rs 40 to arrange his hunger and this story of poverty was made viral throughout the country and abroad to malign the Congress. Kalahandi became a synonym for poverty. 14 months back, Dana Majhi walked 10 km carrying his wife’s body on his shoulder when an ambulance was not made available to him. This exposed the Government’s apathy to medical services in the hinterland of the State. It was a story relating to the district headquarters hospital. Stories on a positive note of the district relate to a tiny boy of class V named Roshan Kumar Rana who won Prime Minister’s award of Rs1 lakh in cash and a citation for his artistic talent. He belongs to Bhangabari, 4 km from Bhawanipatna where a Government medical college is supposed to come up. Almost one year on, the construction work for building is yet to begin. Similarly 8 km from Bhawanipatna, a village named Dadpur created history when a post graduate student of physiotherapy named Satyapira Padhan created a new record in rapid fire punch and got his name entered in the Guianese Book of World Records. Considered the second rice bowl of the State after Bargarh, Kalahandi lives in its villages in most inhuman conditions and the towns are no different. Now in Bhawanipatna, a competition is on to buy Chinese rackets to fight the mosquito menace. Within a short span, many of them are sure to enter badminton tournaments as the mosquitoes killing exercise will indirectly give them the skill of wielding the racket.
Projects fail to take off, R’kela civic life in mess
Even after the former Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation of the second bridge over river Bramhani, the construction company is yet to begin its work because of opposition to the Government land acquisition process by the residents of Balughat area supposed to be connected with the national highway no.215. The issue still remains unresolved despite efforts of the district administration. The UDAN ( Ude Desh ka Nagarik) scheme supposed to be launched this month connecting Bhubaneswar with Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Kolkota, Jaipur, Utkela and Raipur has been postponed due to delay in providing the required logistics support at Rourkela and Jharsuguda. Similar is the position of the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) planned to be upgraded into a Super Specialty Hospital with a medical college of SAIl for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 200 crore, according to the local MlA Dilip Ray. The Railways and the RSP are posing hurdles on two important development projects – a road over bridge at the STI and ITI chowks and a sewerage treatment plants, on one plea or the other. The Rourkela Municipal Commission is facing acute shortage of staff to clean the recently constructed drains in Basanti Colony and Chhend Colony which are jammed even after heavy rains during the last monsoon. Although gripped by a severe mosquito menace, Corporation authorities are the mute spectators. The drain top food stalls owners further add to the woes by selling unhealthy food stuff enjoying a field day. And finally, the lanes and sub lanes of different locations of the city are crowded by street dogs, cows and buffalos which not only create traffic hazards but also add to the city’s filth by open defecations on the road.