The constitution of an Inquiry Commission on Regional Imbalances headed by Justice SK Mohanty by the State Government was nothing but a farce and waste of public money, an RTI query has revealed.
According to the facts provided by the Planning and Coordination Department’s Public Information Officer (PIO) on Nov 25, 2014, the commission was constituted on February 20, 2004 to conduct free and fair investigation into the existing regional imbalances in the development of the State in terms of different socioeconomic parameters and to suggest remedial measures to be taken to address the regional disparities and halt the trend. Though the tenure of the commission was fixed for six months, it was extended up to August 6, 2008 (around 4 years) for the date of submission of its report.
A copy of the report was denied to the applicant, RTI activist Pradip Pradhan, on the ground that it was ‘under scrutiny’ by a subcommittee constituted by the Government.
“The commission took more than four years to produce the report. But a subcommittee constituted to scrutinise the report has already taken six years to scrutinise it. It speaks volumes about the efficiency of the Naveen Patnaik Government,” Pradhan remarked.
Pointing out that Rs 51.95 lakh of public money has been spent on the commission, Pradhan demanded that its report be presented in the public domain at the earliest.
“Every time an issue crops up or public protest becomes too hot to handle, the Government sets up an inquiry commission or a judicial probe commission to inquire into the issue in a way to divert the attention of opposition political parties and general public alike. This probably is the easiest way to push the matter into cold storage,” the RTI activist commented.