Former Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy has taken charge as Chairman of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC). The post had fallen vacant after untimely death of Subash Chauhan, a BJD leader who was the Chairman of WODC for a brief period from September 2019 to May 2020. Tripathy is the second non-political man now after Prof Niranjan Panda (2006-2011) to head the WODC. In November, 1998, the Government of Odisha had established the WODC with the objectives of removing regional imbalances by undertaking accelerated development in western Odisha.
The jurisdiction of the WODC spread over 89 blocks of 10 districts such as Sundargarh, Jharasuguda, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Boudh, Nuapada, Bolangir, Kalahandi with Athmalik sub- division under Angul district.
The Government of Odisha also enacted a law called 'Western Odisha Development Council Act, 2000' clearly defining objectives, powers, functions and organisational structures of WODC. Kalahandi of western Odisha once was the cause of global embarrassment for India due to its high number of starvation deaths. For long 20 years upto the year 2000, it was an agonising period for Kalahandi. The famines, droughts and other natural calamities had gripped this land. There was no food, no water then.
Two out of three children were being born dead. Unknown fever, cholera and diarrhoea had created panic. Everywhere there was the picture of hell. Women were abandoned; they had to sell their children out of desperation for their own survival. People had to leave their villages in search of job and food. Those who could not leave, sometimes, they had to live on poisonous roots, mango kernel and wild tubes.
Mediamen from different parts of the country and abroad had thronged the region, covered its news extensively and shown the poverty picture of Kalahandi. ‘Children are sold cheaper than chanas. The Government, instead of rescuing the poor from hunger is pressurising them to deny the sale stories', then a report said. In 1985, the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi visited Kalahandi and famously said, "of every rupee spent by the Government, only 17 paisa reach the intended beneficiaries’. Kalahandi along with its peripheries was the labarotory of poverty, a spot of hunger and starvation.
In the backdrop of its long twenty years of agony, the WODC was set up to bring development in the backward western Odisha regions. The WODC has already lived a life of 20 years. The Government of Odisha gives regularly a huge amount of grants- in -aid. Experts nominated by the Government having experience and expertise in the field of social service, administration , irrigation, public health, forestry, mining and public works help the Council in its functioning. But development in the region as expected has not happened yet. Backwardness still exists.
The latest audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India given through the Accountant General( General and Social Sector Audit ), Odisha for the year, 2020 has revealed how there has been serious decline in activities of the WODC over the past several years. The Accountant General (AG) has conducted a compliance audit of the WODC during April to August, 2018 covering the period from 2015 to 2018. The units for audit were selected on the basis of stratified random sampling methods. The AG has noticed plenty of irregularities and infirmities in both the accounts and decision making of the WODC.
The report says, there is deficiency in planning and 'inadequate allocation of funds' has been made to the priority sector contrary to the instruction that highest priority is to be given to the irrigation sector. Instead, the report laments, other projects which are not critical to the development of the region are given priority with allocation of funds to the tune of ?159.41 crore.
For example, funds have been allotted for construction of community centres and even installation of statues in the Rourkela smart city area and consequently, the other critical projects are left to suffer due to paucity of funds, the report reveals.
Irrigation has become the first casualty.When the WODC was formed, it was the unanimous view of all lawmakers that the remedial measures would be taken immediately for the socio- economic, cultural and educational development of western Odisha and plans to be made accordingly.
But the CAG in its reports has very critically observed that the WODC provides financial assistance to certain private educational institutions disregarding the statutory instructions. The quality education in the Government schools is in a mess and the MP / MLA Lad funds are not sufficient for the purpose, the report says. After 20 years of formation of the WODC, disappointingly backwardness in the region still remains.
As per the audit report, out of total 89 blocks, 34 blocks are now still 'very backward' and 25 blocks are backward and adequate priority has not been given to bring these blocks at par with developed blocks. The road connectivity to targeted villages is in a bad shape. The Government has very often given lofty promises that the modern healthcare facilities are to be given to the people of the western Odisha region and the Government cannot afford to see the repetition of the neglected healthcare which happened during the period of 1980s.
The CAG report says, 'Advance medical facilities could not be provided to the people of the region due to non -functioning of medical colleges and hospitals at Kalahandi, Rourkela and Bolangir and thereby the objectives of providing good medical facility to the people of the WODC area could not be achieved'. The CAG in its report,2020 thus recommends , ' To achieve the objectives set out for the WODC, it needs to identify the critical gaps in development and prepare long term and short term perspective plans to bridge these gaps for implementation.
Absence of long term plans has prevented the WODC from adopting a focused approach to achieve special objectives over a fixed period.' As a result, misplaced priority in utilisation of funds has jeopardised the priority sectors. The report has now, therefore, unfolded challenges for the new Chairman of the WODC. But, certainly this time there is a splendid performer.
(A Gandhian author and columnist and lawyer, who is based in Puri. M-9861469328)