Who should the people of the State follow if lawmakers are found in unauthorised occupation of Government quartersIJ
Four Ministers, Assembly Deputy Speaker Sananda Marndi, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, Government Chief Whip Ananta Das and Congress Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati have been found in occupation of more than one Government quarter. There are also eight more MlAs in the list.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave this information while replying a written question in the State Assembly.
The four Ministers who have taken double quarters are Ashok Chandra Panda, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Jogendra Behera and Pradeep Panigrahy.
Though the Government has not initiated any action against these MlAs and Ministers, Patnaik said the Secretary of the Odisha legislative Assembly has been intimated to request them to vacate the additional quarters immediately.
The MlAs who have taken two houses are Maheswar Mohanty, Bhujabal Majhi, Prafulla Majhi, Nrushingha Chandra Sahu, Subrat Tarai, Subal Sahu, Rabinarayan Naik and Ramesh Patua.
On the other hand, the Government has initiated cases against more than 200 persons who are in unauthorised occupation of quarters.
Cases have been initiated against former Ministers Surendra Nath Naik, Sarojini Hembram and Anjali Behera and former MlAs Pradeepta Kumar Nayak, Alekh Kumar Jena, Ramchandra Hansda, Rabi Mallick, Rajendra Dholkia and Pratap Sarangi.
If the sitting MlAs and Ministers are found to be in occupation of more than one quarter, what exactly prevent the authorities from initiating cases against them alsoIJ The question is being raised by many in the Assembly corridors.
On the other hand, seven MlAs Nitish Gangdev, Sanatak Mahakuda, Saroj Kumar Samal, Chandrasarathi Behera, Chiranjib Biswal, Purna Chandra Nayak and Rajendra Kumar Sahoo have not been allotted quarters so far.