God save the poor! As if mining and chit fund scams were not enough, the ration card scam has come as the latest bread snatcher of millions of marginalised people in Odisha.
This time again, the State Government is shedding crocodile’s tear even as countless rich BJD functionaries have managed to get cards through malpractice. The allegation by the BJD that Congress and BJP too have bungled the cards neither absolves it of the offence nor provides any relief to the poor.
The tip of the iceberg was the Cuttack Mayor’s gaffe. Knowing that her tampering of facts to get ration card would have serious ramifications and dent the ruling party’s image, the Mayor tendered her resignation in haste both from the post of Mayor and as a corporator. She gulped the bitter pill only after the guilt became public.
Though she was asked by the boss to quit following revelation of her guilt, so that the BJD’s and party supremo Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s image remains intact, but the damage control drive has failed to hit the bull’s eye. The Government is facing much criticism for this.
Senior BJD leader Amar Satpathy tried to take the credit for the State Government for implementing the Food Security Act in Odisha while many States are yet to do it and described the Cuttack incident as a stray mistake and ‘not an irregularity’. He downplayed the corruption by the BJD functionaries and said a process has begun to cleanse the system in identifying the eligible persons and issuing them the food cards.
However, the fire which emanated from Cuttack with the Opposition parties questioning the fairness in the distribution of ration cards and alleging nepotism and corruption in the whole process by the BJD, has meanwhile spread to other parts of the State as the same trend is invariably found in Dhenkanal, Ganjam and Baleswar etc where political people have grabbed cards by furnishing false information. Curiously, the BJD is not the only offender as people affiliated to other major parties like Congress and BJP have also committed the similar offence.
While the BJD has reduced the national scheme to a party scheme with ulterior motive, the people of other parties who are in power in panchayat bodies to municipalities to corporations have misused their power and privilege to grab cards for them and their nears and dears.
Following the mining scam, when the mines were closed, the immediate jerk was felt by the poor daily wagers, machine operators and vehicle owners. They lost their livelihood as mine operations were halted all of a sudden. lakhs of these people had no role to play when illegal mining was taking place with a nexus of mine owners, officials, police and politicians. Now those who have got the cream have nothing to worry about unlike the ones who have to struggle hard to earn a living.
Similarly, chit fund scam took place under clear patronage of politicians. The chit fund operators have earned crores of rupees and enjoyed their life to the hilt at their heydays while the politicians who supported them too got their share. But what about the poor investors and the poor employees of the chit fund firmsIJ While the employees of the chit firms have gone underground; many faced physical and mental harassment and even a handful of them committed suicide without being able to face their depositors, the investors have been moving from pillar to post to get back their money.