Indus Valley Times

People ask questions on discrepancies in allotment of PMAY houses, lack of roads

By Swagatika Bhutia

BHUBANESWAR, FEB. 10: Leaders of Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are these days seen facing increasing ire of the people while campaigning for their candidates for the forthcoming rural polls, famously known as gram panchayat elections, for their unkept promises. In the last few days, state mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash, information technology minister Tusharkanti Behera and many senior leaders of the party have found themselves at the receiving ends while canvassing for their party candidates.

Videos emerging from Gobardhanpur in Cuttack district showed senior BJD leader and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra being heckled by villagers who questioned him on lack of drinking water and irregularities in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme. Bichitrananda Panda, a resident of Gobardhanpur said, “People are asking questions about the development of our village. The MLA is facing people’s anger in almost all the villages he is travelling.”

This was not the sole instance where Mishra was gheraoed. Earlier on December 28, 2021, Mishra reportedly faced the anger of party workers over distribution of party tickets.

However, Mishra denied the public outrage and said, “There is no anger whatsoever. As far as Gobardhanpur is concerned, I had called them on my own for their grievance redressal.”

A similar visual came from Nimapara where BJD leader and school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash was questioned by eligible people who were denied homes under the PMAY scheme.

And a similar clarification by Dash followed, “They all love me. Because of Covid-19 situation some beneficiaries could not get homes under the PMAY scheme till now. They were just airing their grievances,” Dash clarified.

IT minister Tusharkanti Behera was at Boitakuda in Kakatpur on a bike when locals blocked roads denying him entry into the village. The villagers of Boitakuda were enraged over the dilapidated road to their village which has not been repaired since years despite repeated requests to the administration and leaders.

While Behera was unavailable for comments, a local said, “We stopped the minister on the road and expected an assurance from him. But he gave us a slip and disappeared in the cover of the night.”

“We will boycott this election unless a road is built to our village,” he asserted.

In western Odisha, BJD MLA Saroj Meher too faced embarrassment at a public meeting in Kandhenjhula under Belpada Block in Bolangir when people asked him over local area development and lack of basic amenities in the gram panchayat.

While people in the know of elections and politics link such kind of public behaviour to increased use of social media, some intellectuals term it mass anger, arising out of the failure to keep the promises made during last election.

Social activist Jagadananda said, “The reason for such protests might be people are getting fed up with the politicians showing up at their villages only during poll time and remaining out of sight for the rest of the time.”

The three-tier rural polls will be held in five phases in Odisha from February 16, 2022. The polling will be held with a gap of one day between each date on February 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24. Final results will be declared on February 28.