leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) including its president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have been swearing at public meetings that they are working hard to fulfil “the dreams of Bijubabu” for making Odisha the country’s number on State.
But interestingly, there are no such recorded or registered dreams of former Chief Minister and legendary Biju Patnaik on Government records. This has been revealed through an RTI (Right to Information) application sought by rights activist Pradip Pradhan recently.
“Out of curiosity, I had submitted an RTI application on March 25, 2013 to the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) seeking information about the dreams of Biju Patnaik for development of the State and what steps are taken by the present Government to fulfil these dreams in the greater interests of the State,” Pradhan said on Tuesday.
“My RTI application was forwarded to the PIO, Department of Parliamentary Affairs, to provide the information. On April 24, 2013, the PIO intimated me that such information is not available with the State Government and also mentioned that it does not come under the definition of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act,” Pradhan pointed out.