A new social organisation Nagarika Bandhu Manch was inaugurated here on Saturday. A seminar on “Fundamental Rights of Citizens of BMC” was held on the occasion. Mahan Sangh president and veteran social worker Sushant Sabat presided over the meeting.
Sabat referred to the core aims and objectives of the Manch and sought the cooperation of the citizens of Brahmapur to unitedly fight for improvement of civic amenities like sanitation, road, drainage system and regular as well as quality power supply in the city. The meeting was coordinated by KB Group of Institutions chairman Prem Ananda Mishra.
Former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda said the civil rights scenario of Brahmapur city cannot be examined in isolation from that of the rest of the country, as India is one nation and governed under one constitution with similar statutes. Since ‘rule of law’ is a prerequisite for a good civil society, the key impediments for maintaining ‘rule of law’ is ‘corruption’ which lies at the core of bad governance for which civil society organisations must press the Government to provide corruption-free service to the citizens, he added.
The competition for illicit liquor trade has not only eroded the moral values and cultural co-existence, but also deteriorated the cohesiveness and social pride of the citizens of Ganjam district in general and Brahmapur city in particular. While recalling the glory and sacrifice of the past leaders, Panda said that leaders like VV Giri and Dibakar Pattnaik were arrested in Aska in 1922 while they spearheaded the movement against the liquor mafias. Citing the views of great American author Abraham lincon, he said that, “People must have the divine right to regulate their rulers”. During his tenure as MlA, he did not even allow a single liquor shop to come up in his Chhatrapur constituency in the best interest of the public, he lauded.
Former MlA Narayan Reddy called upon the citizens of Brahmapur to unitedly fight against corruption, which is responsible for all civic difficulties in Brahmapur city in terms of drinking water, roads, power supply, and drainage and sanitation system.
Though the Ganjam district has produced five Chief Ministers, it could not see the true light of development in a manner it ought to, he said.
Recalling the lack of leadership quality of elected representatives, Reddy said a most valuable medical instrument worth Rs9 lakh remained defunct in the local MKCG Medical College for years in the past, though the people’s representative of Brahmapur who got elected four times remained helpless. Similar is the situation with the local MP who could not raise a single question in Parliament during his entire tenure and instead he remains busy in advertising gold in TV, said Reddy.
Scribe KC Panda urged the denizens of Brahmapur to fight unitedly for better civic amenities by the BMC. He held ineffective and voiceless leadership of elected representatives responsible for the poor state of civic amenities in the city.
BJP youth leader Rama Kumar Patra expressed his concern over lack of unity among the denizens of Berhampur in fighting against corruption. The people of Ganjam must learn unity shown by the people of western Odisha in halting elections to civic bodies for establishment of a permanent bench of Odisha High Court in their respective region, he said.