Bhubaneswar: Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday accused the Naveen Patnaik government of "derailing the process of development in the backward regions of the state" by not allowing district collectors to attend the Niti Aayog meeting held in New Delhi on January 4 and 5.
Talking to reporters here, Pradhan also questioned the state government's decision not to allow senior officers in the rank of joint secretary from the Centre to monitor the development of backward districts as "prabhari officers".
He sought Naveen's intervention in the matter.
The Niti Aayog has selected 115 districts from across the country for the exercise.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant in a November 24 letter to Odisha's chief secretary had stated that the prabhari officers would act as a bridge between the Centre and state and work to bring about major improvement in key performance indicators in these districts through convergence of central and state schemes.
Odisha and Bengal have opposed the idea of Centre playing "big brother" and have refused to entertain the "prabhari officers" on the pretext that the move would put tremendous pressure on the district administration and also create confusion.
Odisha had described it as Narendra Modi government's attempt to intervene in the state's administrative affairs.
Chief secretary A.P. Padhi in his December 6, 2017, letter to Niti Aayog, said: "In the process of identifying the eight backward districts of the state, no formal structured consultation was made with the sate government."
However, Pradhan on Sunday said the Modi government had no intention of playing big brother to the states.
"The Niti Aayog has selected these backward districts using different parameters. It had held several discussions with the chief secretary. It had also given the state government the liberty to change the districts if they didn't agree with the choice," he said.
Pradhan said: "The Centre has no intention to impose its will on the state government. The officials who have been selected to come to the state belong to the Odisha cadre. They would have worked in coordination with the chief secretary for better development of these backward districts."
BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Deb said: "Where is the need to appoint prabhari officers? What is the hidden agenda behind it? What do prabhari officers know about the districts? Besides, the districts administration would come under pressure from the Centre. There would be lack of balance and it will lead to confusion."