Bhubaneswar: The state government recently appointed more than a dozen of advisors in various departments and accorded then statuses of MoS, Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary. However, it is yet to allocate any official responsibility to them.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had issued a note describing the roles and responsibilities of these advisors.
“Advisors have been appointed by the government to enable independent feedback from the beneficiaries of different schemes and communicate with the concerned departments,” Naveen said in the note.
The advisors are expected to take direct independent feedback from beneficiaries of different government schemes, especially the state-sponsored schemes like Kalia, Mamata and Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) and give their suggestions and observations to the concerned ministers.
The main objective of appointment of advisors is to bridge the gap between the government and people.
Meanwhile, Mujibulla (Munna) Khan took charge as adivsor of the SC, ST and Minorities and Backward Classes Development department, Friday.
“Many issues are not reaching the Chief Minister. We will talk to people and give our feedback to him. We will also look after proper implementation of government schemes,” Khan said. Similarly, advisor to Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC), Debasis Mallick has also assumed office Friday.
Such appointments have drawn sharp criticism from the opposition BJP and Congress. Describing such appointments as unfortunate, BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan alleged that it is an attempt to rehabilitate unhappy BJD leader by misusing taxpayers’ money. Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja alleged that the advisors have been appointed to do political work for BJD.
Rejecting the allegations, BJD leader and Minister Samir Dash said there is no political motive behind the appointment of advisors. They have been posted to expedite development works of the departments.