Bhubaneswar: The office of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) could not be opened shifted to the western region due to lack of consensus, Planning and Convergence Minister Padmanabha Behera told the state Assembly Saturday.
Replying to a debate on the admissibility of an adjournment motion on WODC, Behera said the posts lying vacant in Council would be filled up and the council would be constituted soon.
He said Rs 1682.52 crore grant has been given to the Council since its inception in 1998. This apart the state government is also providing a special grant of additional Rs 50 crore to the council.
Behera said there is a proposal to hike the annual grant to the council to Rs 200 crore during the financial year 2021-22 and presented detailed agricultural and irrigation projects completed in the council area.
However, expressing their displeasure over the minister’s statement, Opposition BJP and Congress and walked out of the House in protest. They alleged that the Council has become a rehabilitation centre for the ruling party.
Whenever a leader lost election, he/she has been rehabilitated in the WODC, alleged Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress). He also alleged large scale corruption in the WODC and said a big racket of the agents was going on. Saluja further said the project proposals of the MLAs are not being approved whereas the projects submitted by the agents are being approved as the proposal of common people.
The Congress MLA further said in place of six MPs only two are nominated as members of the council. The Council has only one expert member out of ten.
Another Congress legislator Adhiraj Panigrahi said Bolangir office of the Council has only one data entry operator and one peon. It shows the sincerity of the government, he said.
Though the Council has been formed for 21 years now it has no vision, Panigrahi said adding that fund is being provided only for the construction of roads. He also alleged that the council is being used as a centre for the rehabilitation of retired officers and BJD workers.
Mukesh Mahalinga (BJP) said there is no plan for migrant workers as a result people have moved out of the village in search of work during Covid. The villages, he said wore a deserted look. He said the fund is provided to develop blocks of BJD MLAs, but not the underdeveloped blocks.
PNN