Tribal rights activist and environmentalist Prafulla Samantara has urged CM Naveen Patnaik not to build a special luxury guest house at a cost of Rs 50 crore for short stay of President Droupadi Murmu at her home town Rairangpur and rather spend the money for establishing a quality residential school there for the poor tribal community whom Murmu represents.
In a letter to CM Patnaik, Samantra said, “When you continue to demand to get special status to our State Odisha as a most backward State for more financial aid, how is it wise and justified to spend a huge money for staying of the President for a few days while her occasional short visit?”
A President like Droupadi Murmu who hails from most downtrodden community never needs such luxury guest house for rare visits to her home. Rather this people's money from exchequer of a poor State can be spent to establish a well-equipped residential primary education institution for tribal and Dalit children with trained teachers having tribal languages in her village or district in her honour, he said.
Samantara said the State Government has failed to appoint sufficient number of teachers in schools in the last 22 years of rule of CM Patnaik on the plea of shortage of funds. Similarly, thousands of schools are abolished on the sheer pretext of absence of minimum student strength.
“Why and how children of remote villages specially tribal areas would be attracted or their have-not parents have faith in a failed system to send their children to schools where one teacher is for five classes,” he asked.
“Again your Government has not been able to feed all deprived people of which more than left out 14 lakh people have no ration cards to get monthly rice quota. The recent calamity in Kashipur block exposed that tribal people have no clean drinking water service and necessary primary health service as your Government has no will to provide minimum basic needs as constitutional responsibility,” he said.