BJD Govt. an abject failure: Cong.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 5. The president of the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), Mr. J.B. Patnaik, has accused the Naveen Patnaik-led Government in the State of mismanaging the drought and flood situation. Mr. Patnaik said the BJD Government ``had proved to be an abject failure and let the people down badly''.

He said following the inaction of the State Government, relief work had come to a standstill and in some areas, the situation was akin to that which prevailed during the 1966 Kalahandi famine.

Mr. Patnaik, who toured some of the worst-hit areas like Bargarh, Bolangir, Sonepur and parts of Kalahandi, said people in those areas were migrating in large numbers.

The Orissa Congress had been consistently raising the issue in the Assembly and had now planned to launch an agitation from the block-level. He called on the Government to take steps to strengthen the PDS system, to provide soft loans to the farmers and run free kitchens for the poor and the disabled. He also warned the State Government against discontinuing with mid- day meal system.

The OPCC chief said nearly 50 per cent of the State was under the grip of either drought or floods and in some areas like Bolangir, there was a danger of deaths due to lack of drinking water. The Government should immediately create work, provide drinking water in order to prevent a major calamity from taking place.

Mr. Patnaik, who was recently re-elected the State unit president for the fifth time, said the organisational elections had proved that the party was solidly behind Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. He exuded confidence that he would unite the different factions in the State unit of the party.

In apparent bid to bury the hatchet with his opponents, he said he did not mind that some people had aspired for his job or had opposed his candidature in the initial stages.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Other States
Previous : Court grants divorce to Anjana