Former Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik has urged Governor SC Jamir to exercise his powers under Article 244 (1) of the Constitution of India and administrative experience to address the problems of Adivasis in Malkangiri district by visiting the area.
In a letter to Dr Jamir, Patnaik said that after the later visited Malkangiri on May 4, in wake of the mass resignation by over 60 representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, he had requested the Chief Minister to take stock of the situation, but neither the CM nor any of his Ministers has visited the district.
“The BJD Government is not serious about the problems of Adivasis. If a similar event of mass resignation had happened in a coastal district, the entire Government machinery would have landed up in the district to sort out matters. Malkangiri is quite dispensable in the BJD scheme of politics. Perhaps anticipating this kind of a situation, the Constitution makers included tribal districts in a separate schedule (Schedule V) and gave extensive powers to the Governors in respect of administration of these districts. You have huge administrative experience and understand the problems of Adivasis very well. So, I request you to exercise your powers in respect of this beleaguered Schedule V district,” Patnaik said.
Patnaik pointed out that Malkangiri district has 81 per cent of people below the poverty line; only 9 per cent households have access to toilets; and mere 16 per cent villages have electricity. The Central Government has been pouring in money under various flagship programmes. But even after 14 years of the BJD rule, the district continues to be one of the three most Maoist-affected zones in the country.
Patnaik in his letter also stated that in the past 14 years, the CM has not initiated any meaningful review to deal with the problems in the implementation of Central schemes. “After the kidnapping of the then Malkangiri Collector Vineel Krishna and his subsequent departure from the district, the administration has further deteriorated and is in a state of limbo.”
“There is a lot of anger (among people) in the district about the apathy and neglect of the State Government. The Chief Minister has quite clearly shown his unwillingness to deal with the grave failure of democratic process arising out of the resignation of PRI leaders and is taking no interest in the implementation of development schemes,” he said in the letter.
“I humbly request you to visit Malkangiri early to assuage the feeling of anger and frustration among the people of the district. You may also ask the CM to visit the district. I am sure the state police can provide the necessary security cover for his visit at least to the district headquarters if not Kalimela that I could visit. You
may also ask the Chief Secretary, the Development Commissioner and other senior bureaucrats to frequently visit these backward districts,” said Patnaik.