Bhubaneswar: Employees of the Central Warehouse Corporation are up in arms against the shifting of the Central institution from Odisha and merging it with its regional office at Patna in Bihar.
While the aggrieved employees have been running from pillar to post seeking the support of ministers and other politicians against the decision of the Union Government to shift their office, activists from the state are also aggrieved and smell a rat in the shifting order.
Central Warehouse Corporation functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution System. On July 26, 2019 the Ministry took the decision to merge the Bhubaneswar office with that of Patna without citing any reasons.
This decision has been challenged in the Odisha High Court by RTI activist Pradip Pradhan.
“The Odisha regional office caters to the needs of the people efficiently ensuring timely delivery of food grains. It has been making profits since the last five years. The state has provided land at various places for the construction of godowns to enhance the storage capacity of food grains.” he said.
He also added, “The support of the state government for enhancing the storage capacity of godowns was remarkable. This regional office caters to the state and adjoining states like Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. If Bhubaneswar Regional office is shifted to Patna it will create a lot of problems.”
The Orissa High Court, August 16, had stayed the decision of the Centre to shift the Bhubaneswar regional office to Patna and had issued a notice to the Managing Director of the Central Warehouse Corporation, New Delhi and Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution System seeking a response by September 17.
The Odisha Assembly and some Union Ministers from the state have also written to the Ministry to reconsider their decision.