All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Odisha BK Hariprasad was in Ganjam to attend the fifth leg of the Jagaran padyatra at Adapada in Sanakhemundi block. He said: "Through this padyatra, we have exposed the state government's failure to assist the drought-hit and debt-ridden farmers." Farmer suicides and irregular distribution of ration cards were the central theme on the 10-km long march. Harichandan said: "The process for strengthening the Congress has begun. Block and district-level units are being reorganised." He accused chief minister Naveen Patnaik of being "on a looting spree" and ignoring the plight of migrant labourers.
Text by Sunil Patnaik
Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy
Bhubaneswar, Nov. 30: The BJD will raise the issue of central neglect in the Assembly during its winter session commencing from tomorrow.
"The ruling party members will take up a number of issues, including the central neglect, on the floor of the House. The Centre has cut down the flow of funds in the irrigation schemes and also withdrawn many others," said chief minister Naveen Patnaik after presiding over the BJD legislature party meeting on the eve of the session.
The treasury bench will also raise the issue of Pollavaram dam project, which threatens to submerge vast areas of the state, he said. The BJD has been protesting against the inter-state project and accusing the Centre of giving the go-ahead signal to the project ignoring the state's interest.
State parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh said a motion would be brought in the Assembly by the ruling party to discuss the issue of central neglect.
Asked whether the Congress would support the BJD-sponsored motion on central neglect, Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said: "Let's first see the motion."
Political observers believe that the BJD would raise the central neglect issue as an counter-offensive, since the Opposition Congress and the BJP have decided to focus on farmers' suicides and drought.
"Farmer suicides and drought will be the major issues before the Assembly," said the Congress legislature party leader. The BJP legislature party had also decided to take up the twin issues on priority basis.
Realising this, the chief minister, while addressing a meeting of all secretaries on the eve of the session, said: "I would like the drought relief package to be implemented on war footing to give relief to every affected cultivator of the state."
"Irrigation will continue to be a top most priority as this will be lifeline for farmers," said Naveen, while recapitulating the priority list of his government. He also asked the senior bureaucrats to continue with the "tour week" programme to "understand and sort out field-level problems".
In another development, the Congress legislators, who met this evening, decided to take up issues such as the irregularities in ration card distribution, power shortage, contractual teacher agitation, deteriorating law and order situation and the growing unemployment scenario during the session.
The government will bring five important legislative bills apart from presenting the supplementary budget for the current year. The legislative bills are the Odisha Municipal Corporation (Amendment) bill, Odisha Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Amendment bill, Odisha Municipal Services bill, Odisha Industries Service (Validation and Appointment of Assistant Managers and Assistant Directors) bill and the Birla Global University, Odisha bill.
