WHAT A GOVT.! COURT IMPOSES CASH PENALTY ON DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Orissa Government under Navin Patnaik has become so much a den of vices that the Orissa High Court had to punish the Secretary as well as the Director of Higher Education with cash penalty to the tune of Rs, 10 thousand each with a month long imprisonment in default.

Even as the Secretary Madhusudan Padhi is an IAS officer, the Director Dr. Suman Mohapatra is a college teacher. Both of them are punished individually by name.

Individually and collectively both are guilty of willful contempt show to the just Orders of the Court in their over-indulgence in harassing a laboratory attendant of a private college.

The affected employee, Debendranath Barik, working in J.N.College of Kuanpal since May 25,1993, was victimized in pay fixation and the discrimination continuing, had preferred a petition before the Education Tribunal.

After prolonged hearing, the ET had ordered on July 3, 2006 that the authorities must pay him his dues as determined along with the amount of full grant-in-aid with retrospective effect from May 24, 2002.

The Supreme Court of India has unambiguously observed that the state should behave as an ideal employer and should rectify its wrong steps when a court of law points that out. It has in many cases strongly disapproved the wont of state administration to prefer appeals in higher forums against employment related judgments.

But instead of behaving as a responsible employer, Orissa Government under Navin Patnaik has become a habitual litigant that has surpassed all records of dragging employees into litigations. When an employee gets a verdict in his or her favor in a lower court or tribunal the mandarins in the Secretariat and in offices of various Heads of Departments immediately go for appeal in the higher courts against such orders. Every department has law officers and / or legal sections. Every litigation brings a bonanza for the law officers and the staff in the legal section. Beginning from the contact with the lawyer to fixation of fees and bagging adjournments after adjournments, every stage brings warmth to pockets of these fellows over and above the Travel Allowance and Daily Allowance they draw from the state treasuries on account of attending the Courts. It is a great scam patronized, not for no reason, by the HoD / Secretary of the department concerned.

Gaining from other’s disadvantage has become so habitual in Navin’s Government that in the instant case the High Court was shocked to see how with blazing audacity its own order for release of the decreed amount to the poor low-paid employee was sloughed over by the Secretary and Director of Higher education.

Taking the disrespect shown to its Order dated September 9, 2008 as contempt, proceeding against both of them was initiated and orders were issued for them to place their respective versions in person before the Court on January 27.

But honor for Law Courts has so declined that these tow top officers did not care and the contempt case closed that day for Orders to be delivered.

The High Court delivered its Order on January 30.

If the two Officers above named fail to deposit the cash penalty within 7 days, they will be sent to the Jail for a month.

These two officers are to pay the cash penalty from their personal pockets, because they are found personally guilty. But, as looting the exchequer in the guise of litigation management has become a habit of administration, there is every possibility of the treasury being used for paying this money.

It would be better for the Chief Minister to monitor the matter and to ensure that the State exchequer is not looted for depositing the cash penalty on behalf of the two offenders.

CONGRESS WANTS POLITICAL ANARCHY IN INDIA

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Congress, a combine of Sonia sycophants, wants to plunge India into political anarchy.

It has a working committee where members “appointed” by Sonia pose like a democratic body and pass resolutions in the style of a democratically elected authority even though adoption of resolutions without a single note of descent makes it understood that the members put their signatures on dotted lines.

This working committee in its yesterday’s meeting has resolved to keep away from alliances with any other party in the national level whereas in the state level it will ally with any regional or national party that it would feel convenient.

Such stark opportunism will not strengthen democracy, but will in fact weaken it; because, the scenario that would emerge out of it must make compromises with its manifesto in a province on regional consideration and would sure lead to political contradictions.

Similarly, the party with which it will ally in a province must be having its own manifesto. But, alliance with the Congress shall sure usher in interventions.

So the Congress decision is designed to bed with parties having regional support bases by way of situational cohabitation sans commitment and continuity. The regional party, in this case, shall push the Congress candidate from the bottom to the Center but at the central level it shall have no consequential impact. What would be the scenario that then should emerge?

The congress under Sonia is clearly confused and it wants to confuse the country further.

There are many sharp brains in Congress. If they say that they have no ability to understand this, they must be telling the lie. If they have not been able to develop a distinct decision in the working committee, they have clearly not dared to go against the game plan formulated elsewhere even though that helps the factors of political anarchy.

HIGH COURT ORDERS CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AGAINST BMC COMMISSIONER

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Even as we have exposed how the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been torturing Bhubaneswar in these pages on the 7th January and on several earlier days, the High Court of Orissa has passed an Order yesterday directing the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to file a Criminal case against the BMC Commissioner and report compliance on the 11th February.

This means, the lady IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi will face criminal prosecution within a fortnight for her criminal negligence to the health of the city.

The only work that a Municipal Body is meant to perform is management of urban waste.

BMC has utterly failed in this.

The lady IAS officer is marked for her burning zeal in demolition of the basic sources of livelihood of the local venders; but the local Press and politicians are yet to find out if the drive is tuned with concealed advantage for kiosk makers.

As we have exposed, the Commissioner has sloughed over the Supreme Court of India orders in the matter of saving Bhubaneswar from the horrific hazards afflicted upon its environment by herds of milkmen who, about 4000 in numbers, have encroached upon all lucrative locations in Bhubaneswar. The Municipal Corporation Act 2003 has put a blatant ban on keeping of cows and buffaloes etc in and around the BMC area against which the milkmen preferred their final appeal before the Apex court and the judgment passed in 2006 has rejected their appeal while making it mandatory for the BMC to oust the milkmen immediately without any compensation and/ or rehabilitation package.

Thus, though strengthened by the Supreme Court verdict, the BMC was to demolish forthwith all the cowsheds and oust all the milkmen from its limits, it has never caused that to happen.

It is inferred that this colossal failure to implement its own Law has a backhander factor behind it; the suspected volume touching the border of one crores of Rupees per month.

In the cirumstances, it is significant that the braggart pretense of development of Bhubaneswar has failed to hoodwink the High Court.

One may now hope that the Commissioner subjected to criminal prosecution for crafty deception in waste management, the BMC will rise to oust the cowherds from the city and to save its air and environment from stench and cow dung.

The lady Commissioner should be prosecuted against by name as otherwise the responsibility for wrecking havoc on inhabitants’ lives cannot be punished.

DARKNESS LOOMS LARGE OVER ORISSA POWER SECTOR

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In these pages on March 7, 2006 captioned Dark Days Ahead, we had presaged, if the preening prince of Bijudom continues his high sounding brags of industrialization without concentrating on generation, Orissa would soon be pushed into a power famine. And thereafter, in these pages, we have been discussing this issue in-depth wherein eminent electrical engineers and power-management experts have also participated and warned the State Government of severe energy crisis if the Government does not rise to the occasion. But Chief Minister Navin Patnaik has failed to rise. Not a single MW of power has been generated extra during his entire incumbency.

Darkness now looms large over Orissa power sector.

As we dig out, the Central Government has on several occasions also cautioned the State of the impending disaster. In letter No.301 dated 25.01.2008 addressed to the Energy Secretary of Orissa, the Central Ministry of Power has pointed out that Orissa may face a peak shortage of 262 MW and energy shortage of 1574 MU in the year 2011-12 in spite of receipt of about 429 MW additional power from Central Sector Generating Stations during XI Plan which includes 49 MW from Kahalgaon Stage-II, 108 MW from Farakka Stage-III, 57 MW from Barh Stage –II, 108 MW from Navin Nagar JV and 107 MW from Teesta – V.

In this communication the Central Ministry has pointed out that capacity addition of only 150 MW from Balimela Extension Unit – 7 & 8 and the State’s share of 600 MW would likely be available from 2400 MW Thermal Plant of Sterlite Energy Ltd. during XI Plan period. As Unit 7 & 8 of Balimela Hydro-Electric Project will not add to design energy of Balimela Power House, the capacity addition of 600 MW is only expected during XI Plan period. Either augment the generation capacity or to tie up with surplus States of NR, WR, ER & NER to tackle the Power shortage situation around 2011-12, it has advised.

Orissa has launched massive Rural Electrification works under Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), Biju Gram Jyoti Yojana (BGJY) and Gopabandhu Gramina Yojana (GGY) in order to electrify all the balance 19858 villages of the State under grid connected route by 2009 and to provide power supply to additional 68 lakhs of consumers by 2012 under “ MISSION 2012” and is also slated to meet the Power requirement to 61 nos. of Industries that have signed M.O.U with State Govt. to set up electro- metallurgical industries. The energy that they need will not come out of Navin’s magic wand. It has to be generated.

Rising to our presage referred to supra, the then CMD of GRIDCO through his immediate D.O letter to Orissa’s energy Secretary had stressed setting up both Thermal and Hydel projects by IPPs.

The Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) in their letter No.398 dated 10.03.2006 also advised the State Government. invoking Section 86 (2) of the Act to take appropriate steps for capacity addition through green-field and brown-field expansion projects so that the State can continue to maintain a comfortable power position to meet the up-coming Industrial as well as Rural Electrification loads under RGGVY & BGJY during XI Plan. Mention may be made of its letter No.812 dated 20.05.2005 that also had stressed on the matter.

Under such pressures the Government of course in two spells signed 13 MoUs for capacity addition of about 16190 MW at an estimated cost of Rs 68299 Crores in 2006. But it has failed to manage the environment for execution of these MoUs in right earnest.

Even as the scenario stayed stagnated the OERC posted a fresh advice vide letter No.988, dated 20.06.2007 analyzing the power requirement of the State up to 2014-15 as projected by CEA.

According to this analysis, availability of power from all sources in a year of normal rainfall was around 18212 MU with peaking capacity of 3000 MW, which was barely sufficient to meet the current demand.

Observing that Orissa has reached a break neck situation with regard to Demand and Supply of power due to no addition of generation capacity after commission of UIHEP in FY 2001 the OERC made it clear that unless the Government takes appropriate initiatives in a timely manner for generating stations to be established by the IPPs and such other future units ( which take time to be erected and Commissioned), the State may not be able to meet the demand for power . A bad monsoon will be ruinous for the State’s economy, which called for sufficient spinning reserve to maintain continuity of supply of electricity. It also stressed that appropriate steps should be taken for completion of brown –field projects like expansion of Ib Thermal Power Station and for early implementation of projects by IPPs so that the State can continue to meet the upcoming loads on account of Industries and the Rural Electrical Network.

Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) has reassessed its design energy of all hydel power stations viz Balimela, Upper Kolab, Indravati, Rengali and Hirakud Power House and has filed before the OERC and CEA for approval to reduce the design energy per annum from 5676 MU to 4904 MU, which is about 13.6 % of the present design energy.

The OERC while admitting the applications of GRIDCO for approval of 13 Nos. PPAs for proposed Thermal Stations vide interim order dated 30.10.2008 has remarked that the State of Orissa would be requiring a capacity addition of about 4500 MW to cater to the peak demand of 5812 MW in FY 2014-15 as projected by CEA in its 17th Electric Power Survey (EPS).

But the dismal performance of these IPPs/ private developers interested to set up Thermal Power Plants in Orissa has led the Commission to believe that Orissa may face both energy and peak shortage by end of 2011-12. The power scenario may be far worse in those water years when the monsoon rainfall would be deficient.

At Para – 10 (iii) of Minutes of the Conference of Chief Secretaries of States / UTs on Power Sector Issues held on 19.02.2008 at New Delhi, the Central Government’s Secretary (Power) had remarked that the Orissa needed to ensure that anti-competitive arrangements are curbed for ensuring unrestricted flow of electricity.

According to information at his hand, he had pointed out, about 400 MW surplus power from Captive Plant was available in Orissa which could flow to her grid if open access was allowed on payment of reasonable cross subsidy, wheeling and transmission charges.

But the State Government has so far not taken due steps to harness even this available energy.

The OERC vide Order dated 14.03.2008 have already issued guidelines on pricing of surplus power to be harnessed from Captive Generating Plants (CGPs) of the State for consumption inside the State / trading outside the State. Immediate benefit could be obtained by harnessing surplus power from CGPs for benefit of the State, which is now assessed as more than 500 MW from Sterlite Energy, Hindalco, Bhusan Steel and Energy, Nav Bharat, ICCL, NINL, Arati, IFFCO etc. But the Government is yet to wake up.

Even as through Notification dated 21.06.2008 the State Government has accepted the recommendations of the Task Force Constituted to resolve the disputes relating to Pricing and sale of Power from Unit I & II of OPGC and advised OPGC to withdraw the Special Leave Petition filed before Supreme Court to file the amended Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Tariff filing before OERC, the OPGC, despite elapse of long six months, has neither withdrawn the SLP nor filed the Tariff and PPA before OERC. It has also failed to start its brown- field expansion of Unit 3 &4 of 600 MW each as mentioned in Govt. Notification. Navin is yet to understand the intricacies of this negligence / reluctance.

On the other hand, the CMD of NTPC during his last visit to Orissa in the first week of January 2009 has indicated that NTPC has decided to go for brown-field expansion of 2×660 MW at Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS). As NTPC has the necessary expertise to put up such brown-field projects within a gestation period of 28/30 months, the Govt. of Orissa may impress upon NTPC to take up this brown-field project at TTPS on priority so that this NTPC power can be available from TTPS by end 2011 for 100% consumption by Orissa Consumers. Experts opine that the State Government should make the NTPC know very clearly that unless they take up its expansion at TTPS by 2009, no State Clearance would be given for their two proposed Green-field Projects of 3300 MW at Gajamara & Darlipalli. As is its wont, the State Government sits nonchalant even on this.

Alternate Hydro Electric Centre (AHEC) of IIT, Roorkee have identified 206 Nos. of sites in the State of Orissa for development of Small Hydro Electric Projects (SHEPs) with installed capacity of 217.99 MW out of which only 7 Nos. of such SHEPs of about 77 MW are under different stages of development at present. This tardiness is not the fault of the IIT, but of the State Government.

Experts in Power Sector visualize that due to complete inaction of the State Government for over a decade from 1997 to 2008 to establish either brown-field expansion or green-field generation projects, Orissa although endowed with 23% of the country’s power grade coal and 10% of annual surface water flow, despite investment possibility of over Rs.5 lakh crores, will be with the begging bowl for power from 2009 onwards resorting to statutory power cut in all industries and area load shedding and will ultimately plunge into power-famine from the year 2011 onwards.

In view of this emerging disaster, Chief Minister Navin Patnaik should immediately drop his Energy Minister S. N.Patra for his anarchical incompetence and address himself to constituting a Task Force in the pattern of War Council functioning during war time to monitor the impending power shortage scenario and should take the following actions to meet the immediate requirement, the short-term requirement and the long term requirement of energy in the State till 2014-15 as projected by CEA in its 17th Electric Power Survey Report.

In view of the impending darkness, the following suggestions are stressed upon:

(a) immediate action for harnessing of surplus / bottled up power of 500 MW and above CGPs of the State;

(b) immediate commencement of brown-field expansion projects of 2 x 600 MW at Ib Thermal Power Station by OPGC and 2 x 660 MW at Talcher Thermal Power Station by NTPC;

(c) financial closure by all the IPPs (excepting Sterlite Energy Ltd.) by 31.03.2009 proposing to set up Thermal Power Projects in the State and commencement of project works from April, 2009;

(d) putting up of a strong claim before Ministry of Power, Govt. of India for additional allocation of about 1000 MW from 15% unallocated quota of Talcher STPS Stage-I and Stage-II, Farraka STPS Stage-I & Stage-II, and Barh Stage-I & Stage-II for Orissa besides the committed additional allocation of 429 MW from Central Sector Generating Stations of Eastern Region during XI Plan period and

(e) matching transmission network by Transmission Company OPTCL for evacuation of the aforesaid power to various load centers on war-footing.

Will Navin stop playing his hoodwinking tricks and rise to the occasion?

K. P. SINGHDEO: SONIA’S NEW SOLDIER IN ORISSA

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The lady autocrat of the Congress party has “appointed” Sri K.P.Singhdeo as the Chief of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee.

Reacting to the “appointment” KP (as some call him) has said, he is a soldier of Sonia Gandhi and will work sincerely in any job that she assigns to him.

He had begun his political career by fighting against the “corrupt” Congress in 1967 from Dhenkanal Loksabha Constituency.

But power corrupts the fighters against corruption.

And so, in course of time he joined the Congress and now has been “appointed” by its lady autocrat as her “soldier” (in-chief) in charge of Orissa.

But the lady autocrat is managing the Congress in such a fashion that after “appointing” K.P. as President, she has “appointed” three “working” Presidents. They are Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and Bhakta Charan Das.

These three “working” Presidents, naturally therefore form a “Presidium” with KP. But in the constitution of the Congress there is no provision for such a “Presidium”.

This makes it clear that the Congress will contest the elections with a “Presidium” that its own constitution does not support.

The farce of Congress does not stop here. The lady autocrat has not empowered this “Presidium” to draw up stratagem for the elections. As if she knows that this gang of four that she has now clubbed up in the “Presidium” will have no impact on voters, she has “appointed” Srikant Jena as the “Chairman” of a committee to be formed for electioneering.

Time had given the Congress a great asset in the form of Narasingh Mishra. No body in this party during the entire period it has sat in Opposition to Navin has shown to be more suitable than him for the Chief Ministerial post. But the way the affairs are handled, he has resigned from the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition. And, now, obviously he is in the oblivion.

In democratic line of thinking, people keep in mind the Leader of Opposition to form the next government and prefer his party accordingly. Is Ram Chandra Ulaka “appointed” by the lady autocrat in the post of the Leader of Opposition going to inspire the voters or the “Presidium” appointed by her is going to project Ulaka as the prospective CM?

What the lady autocrat of the Congress is really interested for? We will look at that later.

ALLOW WORKERS TO AUDIT COMPANY FUNDS AND EFFICIENCY

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In the guise of global economic crisis, various industrial and commercial establishments have already created an environment of job-insecurity for workers; some alert exploiters having already resorted to lay off / retrenchment even as labor laws implementation authorities in various States have got proforma requests from various companies for permission to impose lay off.

And, as is the wont of administration, it would be the rarest thing to watch if in any case permissions is denied.

So, the regime has, in the name of development, developed an environment of lay off and retrenchment and rampant job-insecurity.

International pressure is a ploy. Our peoples need employment and job security. They are being dragged into unemployment and job-insecurity. This is the reality.

It is noteworthy that the companies that are resorting to lay off / retrenchment, are not closing down their establishments. This means, the companies shall run to meet the demands of the markets but shall run with less personnel. In other words, works shall not stop. Production shall go on. But less number of workers will shoulder larger workloads with the same or lessened salaries.

Hand in glove with the players of world exploitation network, the “right viruses” are in a position to eat away the climate of job-security in India.

And, the industrial employers who prosper by usurping the surplus value of labor have got the golden opportunity to get more works done by lesser number of workers. So, sure, there will now open up an unprecedented era of lay off and retrenchment. And, scheming managements will marshal false evidences of financial loss to obtain permission for lay off/ retrenchments.

Industrial Laws provide for adjudication on legality of lay off or retrenchment and Labor Courts and Tribunals shall now swell up with disputes. But any body having any experience of functioning of the Labor Courts and Tribunals know the victimized worker will seldom survive to get a bit of justice.

What should be done in the circumstances?

To me it occurs that there is only a single way to save the workers from unwanted lay off / retrenchment.

This way should be enforced by the central government with immediate effect and applicability to the entire geographical limits of India.

If the central government is not a box of “right-viruses” but a set up with concern for the working class, it should promulgate that every management that proposes for or proceeds to impose lay off or retrenchment, must allow the worker to be affected by its order to personally or collectively or through his / her agent audit the accounts and efficiency of management of the concerned company or establishment to determine as to whether the said company or establishment has suffered or is about to suffer genuine losses to justify the lay off / retrenchment.

If this does not happen, it may lead us to infer that the “right-viruses” have only one intension and that is to eat away the climate of job security of our peoples under the cover of “globalisation”.

Of course, the government can ban lay off and retrenchment altogether and ensure job-security to workers.

DON’T CRY MOTHER, DON’T CRY

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Don’t cry Mother, don’t cry.

Don’t cry at least for today. This is the Republic day.

This is the day of rejoice for some of your children, Mother! Let them enjoy. Don’t cry.

In the name of democracy, Mother, horse traders and power grabbers and pimps of foreigners shall exercise their rights to unfurl the tricolor. Uniformed peoples who draw salaries from the exchequer and students, who aspire for jobs in future but need certificates of activities extra-curricular, will obey commands to pay salutes to the official flag-hoisters, Mother! and mass media organizations will carry whatever they utter. Let them enjoy the opportunity; because this being the election year who knows if they get a few months hereafter this chance so rare! Mother, allow them to enjoy the moment therefore.

Son of a man who around three decades prior to his death was a mere three hundred rupees monthly wage earner is building up for his use a house that media projects to be the costliest one under the sky in the private sector! It happens, Mother, when the Government creates an environment where a swindler becomes a hero. And, the architects of this swindling environment are in power, Mother, in power.

For them the Republic day is the day for their pleasure.

The day is the day of pleasure for swindlers of shares; and, also for all the looters of surplus value of labor. For them the Republic day is the day for their pleasure.

They will now unfurl on their respective masts the Tricolor, Mother; because they are so far the victors.

They will not see your tears, Mother, they will not see your tears.

They will not see the tears that the farmers shed while distress-selling their crops to the miller.

They will not see the tears that a mother sheds while distress-selling her baby, the sweetest of everything that was her dear.

They will not see the tears that a nubile girl sheds while distress-selling her body or an intellectual sheds while distress-selling his brain or the workers shed while distress-selling their labor.

They have built up their own impregnable empires, Mother, where shall never reach your cries of despair.

Today is their day of pleasure, Mother, the day of their flag-hoisting, the day for them to show the world how have you prospered under their care!

So stop your tears, Mother, stop your tears. You cannot say that you are not theirs. And, your innumerable children, too inanimate to overcome them, cannot rip open their crust at the moment to show the world that your dreams are corpse and they are the vultures.

But don’t cry Mother, don’t cry.

For millenniums together, generations after generations, scoundrels posing as kings, establishing dynasties, exploiting and oppressing your peace-loving children, were basking under self-acquired epithets that were projecting them as gods in human forms. They were the hereditary owners of all the lands, all the animals, all the humans, all the minerals, all the means of productions found within the boundary under their control.

But, Mother, where now are they?

A single boy of thirteen years, a child of a wretchedly poor widow living in a tiny village called Nilakanthapur in Dhenkanal of Orissa,
Baji Raut wiped them out from the scenario of power. The armed personnel of the king of Dhenkanal and his protector British crown killed the boy brutally as he defied their command to ferry them in chase after the leader of peoples’ movement Baisnab Charan Pattanayak and entering into martyrdom, he inspired the peoples of the Princely States so much that the subjects who were worshipping the kings as gods thrashed them off their thrones. The kings of Orissa were compelled to merge their States in your new set up and the rest of the so-called Royals that were offending you with their filthy presence followed suit in order to escape public wrath. In compelling the kings to surrender, the States’ peoples had shown the way to build up your new era on the basis of obliteration of private property. But the people who formed the Governments have betrayed them.

Don’t cry Mother, over this betrayal. Even as no remedy is readily available, your tears shall push your innocent children to further anguish and deep despair.

Do not worry dear Mother! It is not that the remedy shall not come for ever.

Your most innocent and utterly disadvantaged and brutally exploited children have many Baji Rauts amidst them. Unknown. Unrecognized. Unsung. But, as always, loyal to you and to you alone.

The looters of your assets and their associates are in habit of equating some of them with terrorists who operate from beyond the border and unleash State terror on all opponents of exploitation taking advantage of the natural aversion of all your noble, innocent, simpleminded, peace loving children to violence. And to preempt any uprising against the loot raj, they patronize and promote soothsayers, Babas or Seers under the attire of positive thinking to keep their domain safe. But Mother, your every child would one day read the reality and like Baji Raut would sure lit the light of liberty. Real liberty. Do not worry Mother, do not cry.

When all your Baji Rauts will rise, there shall be no soothsayer to misguide them, no Baba or Seer to derail their determination, no Sri Sri to say that revolution against exploitation is a negative agenda of life. Be sure Mother, be sure of this.

The Republic you had given birth to has been shanghaied into the black empire of the economic offenders. Your tortured children shall certainly retrieve it Mother, certainly; because you belong to them and they to you.

Till then, don’t cry. Allow the black sheep to enjoy the Republic Day. Don’t cry, Mother, don’t cry.

CONGRESS IN SUICIDE MODE: BIZARRE BUSINESS IN ORISSA POLITICS

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

As visualized in these pages, specifically on January 10, the Orissa unit of the Congress party has gobbled the killer dose that its lady autocrat wanted administered in order to help Navin win the coming elections.

The business looks bizarre. But this is the reality. For success of the POSCO design, Navin’s continuance in power in Orissa is a necessity for the empire of free economy. And, a dedicated worker of that empire, the lady autocrat of the Congress party, is not supposed to act against its interest. So, in Orissa, the main Opposition to Navin misrule, the Congress had to be subjected to a situation that should push it into utter confusion and internecine quarrels and preempt its expected gain from negative votes against the incumbent Government, as exactly had happened in the last general elections.

And, under this stratagem, the lady autocrat through her Subedars sent from Delhi has shown that as far as the Congress party is concerned, her whims and caprices are more important than the collective dreams, desires and wisdom of Congress members of Orissa and their sympathizers and supporters.

So, the State Unit President Jayadev Jena and the Leader of Opposition J.B. Pattanaik had to go. And, as docile as cats, they tendered their resignations on demand.

Now, when Rama Chandra Ulaka has instantly been made the Leader of Opposition on January 24, the lady autocrat will “appoint” whomsoever she wants in the post of the State unit President from her citadel at Delhi.

Ulaka belongs to the segment of scheduled tribes. When he was Minister of tribal welfare in 1998, tribal members of his own party had raised allegations against him over his patronization to corruption in the department. An officer who was censored in File No. TD (1) AP-61/96 quite severely for having ruined the poultry and other demonstrative projects run in the tribal welfare ground at Bhubaneswar and against whom the official auditors had recommended exemplary punishment was rewarded with promotion by Ulaka. But the nastiness of the modus operandi he had adopted to promote the tainted officer is a matter to be marked to evaluate his posting as Leader of Opposition on the matrix of probity that a political party should be exhibiting in the year of elections.

Under the Rules of Business, the promotion File was to go through Ulaka’s junior colleague, Gajadhar Majhi, the Minister of State in the Welfare department. When Majhi went through the File he marked the audit reports and objected to the proposed promotion of the tainted officer, who, according to audit observations, had savagely sabotaged the tribal welfare projects under his control. But in view of Ulaka’s overriding support to the proposed promotion, the then Deputy Chief Minister Basant Kumar Biswal had thought it prudent to place the entire matter before Chief Minister J.B.Pattanaik on 12 October 1996 and, J.B. on watching the enormity of impropriety involved, in his notes on 21 Nov. 1996 wanted Ulaka to come to him with the File for discussion. Ulaka did not go to the CM and slept over the File till the matter was forgotten. He, however, issued orders to the departmental secretary to desist from sending all files to the Minister of State under the rules of Business and ensured that Sri Majhi gets no further opportunity to raise any objection over the promotion in the concerned File. After lapse of long seven months, obstacles thus eliminated, he placed a new file before the CM suppressing earlier objections and got the promotion approved. Tribal MLAs, even of the Congress party, were visibly irritated over such tricks played by their own Minister to reward a person, who had evidently resorted to rampant corruption and ruined the tribal projects under the very nose of the Secretariat as unveiled by audit.

With such a person posted as the Leader of Opposition, what message the lady autocrat of the Congress party has given?

The message is so coded that without being asked for on records, deputy Leader of Opposition, Narasingha Mishra, who was perhaps the ablest person in that post the Congress could have planted, has resigned along with the party whip Satya Bhusan Sahoo.

Apparently the Congress is in the suicide mode. The scenario would be clear after she “appoints” the new President for the state unit.

HAPPY NEWS TO SHARE

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

There is happy news to share.

The Odia Samaja, “an organization of well-wishers” of Orissa, has given us a new website.
.

Hearty congratulations, friends. You have given a new forum to all those who have been trying to lift Orissa to the height she deserves in the world.

HEALTH CARE: LET THE CM NOT SHY AT THE REALITY

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Chief Minister Navin Patnaik has told the people while addressing an audience at VSS Medical College, Burla yesterday that within a decade Orissa shall surpass all other States of India in health care.

Such high-sounding claims makes a farce of chief-ministerial responsibilities when the reality does not stand with him.

Loot of health-care funds brought on loans from the World Bank by Navin’s Ministers and Officers is well on records. But the Chief Minister has yet to take discernible steps to punish the culprits even as this is visible that he has rewarded two persons in charge of the health department when the loot was going on, the then Health Minister Prafulla Ghadei and Health secretary R.N.Senapati with the Finance portfolio, which are such positions that from there any audit or official investigation could easily be controlled or tampered with or sloughed over.

Mark any posting notifications pertaining to the health department and you will see how postings are fixed!

Posts are being clandestinely auctioned and whosoever gives the highest click gets posting to his center of choice against “any available vacancy” in that center!

Innocent doctors are being transferred from their posts to accommodate the highest bidders and representations of the Doctors as such disadvantaged are kept pending for years till palms are greased for fetching a favor.

When finally files are cleared by bureaucracy, the health minister sits over them for months together till the disadvantaged Doctors learn how to get the file endorsed to the CM.

The CM of course clears the files finally. But has he ever queried as to why the disposal of the files at the Secretary’s as well as the Minister’s level takes so much time? No. Never.

When funds are looted and posts are auctioned, and, when this has happened during his tenure without any punishment to the involved culprits, should it not be better for the CM to stop high-sounding claims of surpassing all other States in health-care in a decade?

His Burla speech suggests that he is unable to look at the reality.

I know, he cannot dive deep into the matter. Lack of aptitude may not be the factor, but lack of time is.

So, I am giving him one example that he can readily verify and see what is happening in the name of health care in Orissa under his rule.

He stays in Bhubaneswar and uses Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the showcase for his administration. Therefore, let me this time show him what really happens in the BMC Hospital, specifically as this piece is on health care scenario.

The BMC decided that there should be a Laparoscopy Unit in its hospital. Accordingly orders for the instrument was issued to a handpicked supplier vide BMC letter No.18099 dated 9 August 2007 and the laparascope, bearing trademark of a German Company Karl Storz, was procured at a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs, though different clinics suggest that the price was more than double the cost in which absolutely efficient machines were available in the market.

Whether or not the cost paid was driven by bribe is a job for the CM to find out.

But what is visible on records is that no laparoscope specialist received the machine from the supplier. A nurse who did not know anything of laparascope received it. The supplier was neither asked for nor had given the demonstration to show that it was in working condition and neither any specialist was in service there at that time nor was requisitioned thereafter to operate the machine.

Laparascopy is a special branch of surgery in which every member of the team beginning from the Doctor to the Nurses needs to have intensive training and specialization. The team should have been ready before the BMC placed orders for the machine. But there was no such team in the BMC hospital in 2007 and till today, no such team is posted there. The machine is laying idle and taking a turn into junk. No body knows if it will ever work. Its warranty period that began from the day of delivery is already over.

I deliberately put this specific instance in these pages.

No expertise is needed to understand that when the order was placed with the supplier there was no environment in the BMC hospital for operation of Laparascope. The post-procurement scenario shows that ever since the supplier delivered the machine the BMC has not taken any step to build up environment for its use.

When the machine was ordered for and procured, the CM’s blue-eyed officer was the commissioner of BMC and its Chairman was one of his sycophants in the BJD. When the machine was abandoned after receiving the delivery, the CM’s blue-eyed officer was the Commissioner and the CM’s party colleague was in chair of the BMC as before. When the machine is continuously lying idle and getting into junk, the same set up is in control of the BMC with CM’s sycophants in its total control.

It is clear therefore that the purpose behind procuring the machine was not developing a laparascopy unit in the hospital, but the only purpose was to earn handsome commission out of the transaction.

Let the CM react to this reality.

If he cannot, he should abstain from high-sounding claims that in a decade Orissa shall surpass all other States in health care. It is simply bad if the peoples are hoodwinked.