Odisha: Congress brings out 10 charges against BJD, says the regional party is anti-people
By Nalini Sahu
Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: Upping its ante against the state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Tuesday brought about 10 charges against the regional party.
The OPCC said the Naveen Patnaik’s government was encouraging nepotism by manipulating work contract conditions and alleged that corruption reigned supreme in all the departments.
“The Naveen Patnaik’s government has systematically manipulated the tender conditions to keep contractors of Odisha out of the race. At least one lakh crore worth of contracts have gone to outside bidders. This is a systematic attempt to loot the state’s resources through outsiders,” OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak said while addressing a press conference here
Stating that most of the (mines in the state were in the hands of outsiders, Pattanayak said the Odia people were not getting jobs in the factories in the state.
In an indirect jibe at some non-Odia officers who are controlling the state administration, the OPCC chief said, “Odisha is being ruled by a handful of outsiders.”
He denounced the BJD using the name of Lord Jagannath to get votes.
“The BJD is not sparing Lord Jagannath to save its sinking ship. In order to hold on to its falling vote bank, it is misusing the name of the deity. Images of Lord Jagannath have been put on trucks and auto-rickshaws,” he observed.
OPCC campaign committee chairperson Bijay Patnaik who was present at the press conference said, “There is rampant corruption from top to bottom. There have been irregularities of over one lakh crore rupees,” he said.
He alleged that non PM Awaas Yojana house, no ration card or no pension was being sanctioned without bribe to local politicians of the ruling party.
“Block offices have become a den of corruption. All works are being executed by block staff in a non-transparent manner. MGNREGS is being executed by machines and wage payment is being misappropriated by the contractors with the connivance of the block staff,” said the OPCC campaign committee head.
Raising the chit fund scam in which lakhs of small depositors have lost money to fraud firms, Patnaik asked: “Where is the chit fund investigation by the CBI and Crime Branch of Odisha police? What happened to the deposits of 60 lakh poor persons?”
Both the leaders also raised the issues of procurement of substandard infrastructure equipment and corruption in drinking water projects.
