Utkal Bharata, Orissa’s Nationalist Rightist Regional Party Registered: Offers Alternative to BJD in Political Resolution

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Utkal Bharata is now registered as a political party.

Founded by former Parliamentarian Mahameghabahan Aira Kharabela Swain, the party has recently been registered by National Election Commission.

Its number is: 56/145/2011/PPS-1.

The Party had its third core committee session on July 30 wherein a new pattern of enthusiasm and determination to surge ahead to retrieve Orissa’s lost national pride, without in anyway affecting India’s national solidarity, was noticed. Its creed is Oriya nationalism, but it would work with undiluted respect to national integration of India. This preamble to its political objective is reflected in its very name: ‘Utkal Bharata’.

Demand for Special State Status
diminishes Orissa’s self-respect

And, in strict adherence to this objective, in its political resolution, adopted unanimously, it has rejected the idea of Special State Status that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been seeking for Orissa. By insisting upon such a grace from the Centre, the Chief Minister has projected the State as a beggar, the resolution alleged. We won’t allow the State Government to compromise with the self-respect of the State, it declared.

Two-rupee-rice is counterproductive

Similarly, the political resolution came down heavily upon the scheme of subsidized rice being supplied to BPL people at the rate Rs.2 per Kg. This corrupting scheme, contrived for vote catching, has ruined Orissa’s agriculture sector by denuding agricultural workers of work-culture and making them lazy and lethargic. Ruin of agriculture has ruined the vast scope of rural employment that agriculture had been generating for generations, the resolution has said.

Industrial confidence shattered

Focusing on political chaos the BJD government has pushed the state into, the party has observed that Naveen patnaik’s 13 year old regime has derailed Orissa by rendering the administration rudderless. Internecine rivalry in the ruling party has become so acute and acrimonious that it does not seem to improve. Because of aimless in administration, not only agriculture is now in doldrums, but also industry has declined, corruption being at the core of affairs that affects industrial confidence. By re-induction of persons to the cabinet thrown out of the ministry earlier, the Chief Minister has established that in his government the corrupt is rewarded and this phenomenon has become counterproductive industrially too, the party holds.

Congress in nexus with Naveen

According to the political resolution, the Congress party is hoodwinking the people in matter of opposition to BJD. In reality, the Congress party has stayed a BJD’s collaborator in corruption and crime against the people as evidenced in absence of action against its MLAs who did not vote for Congress candidate in 2010 Rajyasabha election, which helped the BJD.

The other points that indicates to secret pact between BJD and Congress are: non-imposition of President’s rule after smash of BJD-BJP coalition in 2009; Central ministers visiting Orissa keeping mom over unveiled corruption in centrally funded schemes and the Centre’s blatant and deliberate reluctance to press the CBI to investigate into the mega mining scams carried out in Orissa.

This patronization to Naveen Patnaik’s misrule besides, the massive corruption indulged into by the UPA government in the Centre run under leadership of Congress has exposed the Congress as so much corrupt, that a government under Congress in Orissa cannot be countenanced, the party has said.

BJP would be opposed

On the other hand, the national principal opposition party, the BJP, which presently is in a leaderless state, it trying to coalesce again with BJD. If it materializes, in no way Orissa would benefit.

Therefore, the party resolved to keep away from the Congress, the BJP and the BJD and to oppose them, in order to give the people a transparent, competent, non-corrupt administration that would never compromise with self-respect of Orissa.

Land Health Card

Founder of the party Sri Swain, in elaborating the political resolution, declared that on coming to power, the party will use the Agriculture University as consultant to cultivators who would be provided with ‘Land Health Cards’ to guide them with scientific cultivation. So that, agricultural production would increase. It would stop the two-rupee-rice supply, so that wage earners would be active and agriculture would get proper man-power.

Academic Institutes to be referral points

Education in Orissa is so mismanaged that none of the universities and institutes is able to make a mark in national scenario. The party would change the scenario by making the academic institutes referral points to their respective locality, which would lead to enhancement in standard of education, Swain said.

High Court bench in Sambalpur
WODC Headqrs in Bolangir

While supporting the popular demand for a bench of the Orissa High Court in Western Orissa at Sambalpur, Swain stressed on shifting of the headquarters of the Western Orissa Development Council to Bolangir.

Swain’s address was laced with usual rightist rhetoric against Maoism.

Branches already in 28 districts

In placing he organizational report, Secretary of the Party, Ms. Bratati Chatterjee informed that in 28 out of 30 districts of Orissa the party has its branches whereas in the rest two districts, where district committees are yet to be formally formed, the party has already its active members who are taking up various party programs.

A distinguished group of political and non-political intellectuals watched the proceedings as observers.

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Sambalpur Collector Apologizes, Lawyers to Withdraw Strike

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s habitual inertia in matter of memoranda of grievances has this time become a bit of boon to justice-seekers of Sambalpur. The Advocates’ continuous strike, notwithstanding full support to them by the general public, had put the litigants in severe predicament, which, come the next working day, may be over.

The lawyers would end their strike probably on Monday as the District Collector has expressed regrets on Friday.

The IAS Officers Association had appealed the CM to take stern action against lawyers, who, in its view, were “anti-socials”.

But the CM taking no immediate effective step, and thus the district Collector being forced into a fix, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Sambalpur had stepped in to formulate a compromise between her and the lawyers which apparently has clicked.

Withdrawal of the strike would be finalized after the district bar formally approves it and other bar associations who stood in solidarity with the Sambalpur lawyers are consulted over the development.

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High Court Bar Stands with Lawyers of Sambalpur; Massive Loss of Litigant Time Portended

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

By not transferring the Collector, who controls the Police, the government has patronized to arrest of as many as 18 lawyers of Sambalpur on the basis of her FIR.

We have earlier shown that the acrimony between the Collector and the lawyers of Sambalpur having gone to the Police, the Collector should be transferred from the district immediately as otherwise the police cannot act impartially, as in the system, Collector is the boss over the Police in a district.

In protest against the mass arrest of lawyers, a motorcycle rally hit the streets of Sambalpur to which, as in the Bandh on Wednesday, the general public has extended complete support.

But the agitation against officer-raj has not stayed limited to Sambalpur any more. It has hit the High Court also.

The High Court Bar has held an emergency meeting and resolved to seek action against the Collector for misbehavior with the Sambalpur Bar members. It has called upon all the Bar Associations of Orissa to stop working for a day in solidarity with the Sambalpur Bar and has decided to take stock on Monday to finalize further course of action.

People of Orissa are severely affected by apathetic administration and any credible movement against officer-raj is likely to fetch public support and the lawyers are best equipped to reach the people.

The way the matter proceeds, it portends massive loss of litigant time in whole of the state if the Collector is not transferred immediately. She being the complainant against the lawyers of Sambalpur, it is ethically incorrect to keep her as the Collector in that district, notwithstanding the strong support she gets from the IAS Officers Association.

In public interest, the Chief Minister should stall the hike in registration fee till provisions are made to free the fee fixing from arbitrariness and transfer the lady Collector from the district without any delay so that normalcy could be restored.

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Sambalpur Lawyers are Not Anti-Socials; Transfer the Collector First

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

In a memorandum to Orissa Chief Minister, the IAS Officers Association (Orissa chapter) has demanded stern action against “anti-socials”, who, according to it, abused the Sambalpur Collector Ms. Mrinalini Darswal because of her official action, when the Collector herself has informed the Police that the alleged abusers are “lawyers”.

Are the lawyers just anti-socials to the combined body of IAS officers?

Let us come to the fact.

The people of Sambalpur are severely disadvantaged by unreasonable hike in land registration fees and as links between the local people and land registration office, the lawyers of Sambalpur had tried to prevail upon the district Collector to ensure relief for the affected public.

Had the Collector been tactful, as sequences suggest, her alleged embarrassment might never have occured.

That the entire city of Sambalpur observed Wednesday a Bandh from morning to evening in protest against misbehavior of the Collector against the lawyers wherein the government employees also participated in expression of solidarity with the lawyers indicates that the Collector was not tactful in dealing with the legal community, that was there to make her apprised of the difficulties their clients and would be clients were exposed to by the unilateral hike in registration fee. Arguments turned heated being precipitated by the Collector’s braggadocio, say eye witnesses.

The registration fee hike was detrimental to economy of the local people. The district Bar Association tried to apprise the district Collector of this. Why didn’t the Collector give them a patient hearing? Why she refused to see how the hike had affected the people? What problem was there for her to assure the lawyers to study the issue; if need be, to have a public hearing to know if the hike is really resented to by the people; if need be, to consult the Government in the matter before coming into a conclusion and to assure the lawyers that she had the ears to hear them when the issue they had raised was in reality linked to their profession?

It seems, the IAS Officers Association has not ascertained the real cause of the precipitation as otherwise, it could have restrained itself from misleading the Chief Minister in this matter in its memorandum.

It is a serious offense against the lawyers community by the combined body of IAS Officers and is designed to subjugate people’s conscious voice to their overlordship which they are enjoying under a Chief Minister entirely dependent on officers.

The Chief Minister should introspect before taking cognizance of the memorandum. If he has any respect for political governance, instead of acting on the IAS Association memorandum, he should study as to why, when the lady collector in her FIR has raised allegations against the “lawyers” to the extent of naming 16 of them, the said association has stressed on only one word i.e. “anti-socials” in its memorandum.

Orissa must reject the mischief of IAS officers that collectively hold “lawyers” as “anti-socials”.

The Chief Minister will be well advised to reject the memorandum with the contempt it deserves for having projected the “lawyers” as “anti-socials” and even before trying to ascertain what really has happened, he should transfer the lady Collector from Sambalpur, so that an approximate correct picture can come to him.

He will have to facilitate an unpressurised investigation on the FIR the lady Collector has lodged in the Sambalpur P.S. And, for this, it is better for him to appreciate that, in a District, the Collector bosses over the Police and when in this case, the Collector herself is the complainant, the Police cannot act freely if she is allowed to boss over it.

So, the Collector’s transfer from Sambalpur immediately is the minimum requirement of the moment.

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Give up Hypocrisy With Respect To Surendra Sai, Give Sambalpur Its Due Importance

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Orissa Government behaves hypocritically in many respects. But it should give up hypocrisy with respect to Veer Surendra Sai.

Our discussion on Surendra Sai being well read in these pages, we do not now prefer a new discussion on his life and sacrifice. But, we can certainly say that he had made the greatest and the most inspiring sacrifice for restoration of the distinct dignity of Sambalpur, the place that has the most monumental contribution to culture of Orissa.

Orissa owes its name to Uddiyan Tantra founded by the founder of Vajrayana of Buddhism, Indrabhuti, the light of Udradesh, Sambalpur.

Indrabhuti was the man who coined the name Jagannatha for Gurudev Buddha and established him as such amalgamating the tribal matriarchy with Buddhist tenets that are yet in vogue in the Jagannatha temple system.

So, it is Indrabhuti of Uddiyan Sambalpur who gave birth to Jagannath culture on which Orissa’s unique world outlook is based.

When this Jagannatha has been converted from Buddha to Vishnu and thereby into a deity controlled by the caste supremacists, it may depend on argument and counter argument to arrive at this truth that Jagannath of Puri owes his origin to Indrabhuti of present day Sambalpur. But, no argument is needed to show that Surendra Sai had made supreme sacrifice for restoration of the distinct position of Sambalpur.

I have in these pages as well as in my columns in Oriya language harped several times on transfer of a portion of the State Secretariat comprising departments having more relevance to western Orissa and high lands to Sambalpur as well as for establishment of a bench of the Orissa High Court in this place without wastage of time. The people of the western region are also agitating for availability of executive and judicial government at their door step.

These essential facilities are not being available to people of Western Orissa simply because the State Government is not rising above timidness and hypocrisy.

If Surendra Sai is really to be honored, the unique contribution of Sambalpur region to Orissa should be unreservedly recognized and the offices of executive and judicial government must be established in Sambalpur.

So, politico-administrative hypocrisy should be given up with respect to Surendra Sai and he should be given due respect by establishment of a bench of the Orissa High Court at and by transfer of a part of the State Secretariat comprising departments more relevant to Western Orissa to Sambalpur without wastage of time.

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WESCO COLLABORATES WITH HOUSEBREAKERS AND POWER HIJACKERS IN SAMBALPUR

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

It is well known that the Western Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Ltd.(WESCO) is infested with corrupt personnel. But it was not yet known that it also collaborate with housebreaking and power hijacking by the housebreakers!

Several of its employees and officials have been captured redhanded in different places on different days by the State Vigilance while taking bribes and also have been subjected to raids for accumulation of wealth beyond known sources of income.

Authorities are of the view that, it also is a mismanaged organization.

In analyzing its performance for 2010-11, the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has not only noted it to be “really shameful” , but also has arrived at “the inescapable conclusion” that “stealing of electricity by high end consumers with active connivance of the employees at different level” is going on with “the top management sitting as silent spectator”(OERC Report on Review of Performance of WESCO for the FY 2010-11, taken up on 26.05.2011).

Sadly, the Government run by Naveen Patnaik is also sitting nonchalant over such specific observation of OERC.

Encouraged by the State Government’s collaboration with corruption, the WESCO officials have become so very emboldened that they have started even collaborating with housebreakers in having energy connections at their criminally trespassed sites. One such instance has come into light in the town of Sambalpur.

Owner of ‘Asharani House’ behind Misra Lodge at Fatak, Sambalpur, Smt Asharani Misra, who resides with her family at Bhubaneswar, was, shocked to see that two illegal trespassers into her house were using electricity illegally dragged into by “wire-hooks connected to the street electric pole”.

In a complaint dated 23 Nov 2011, duly acknowledged by the SDO of the concerned electrical sub-division of WESCO, she wanted instant disconnection of the illegal line and corresponding actions against the miscreants.

But to her surprise and shock, to neither Sri Satpathy, the Junior Engineer to whom the complaint was addressed, nor Sri Tanuram Behera, the SDO concerned to whom copy of the complaint was given, this was a matter to merit attention.

A shocked Smt. Misra, in a complaint before the Chairman of WESCO filed on 30 Nov.2011, wanted her house to be free from illegal power connection failing which she would seek redressal in appropriate courts and make WESCO liable for the damage.

The illegal hook was then removed on 2 Dec. 2011, but despite Smt. Mishra having named the illegal users of hook to drag energy into her house, no action was taken against the hijackers of electricity.

Yet, to her surprise, Sri Behera, the SDO, gave her alarming threats over phone that if any hooking is found in future, she shall be prosecuted against for the same.

Smt. Mishra immediately informed the WESCO Chairman of this telephonic threat in her communication dated 6 Dec 2011.

To her horror, she found on 20 Dec 2011 that illegal connections are given to the trespassers by the WESCO officials on permanent basis sans any meter and inspection of wiring!

This being a potential threat to safety of her house, as she contacted the area JE, she was informed that, he had to give the connections under orders of Behera, the SDO as well as of the area Executive Engineer Sri Bibhudendu Padhi. This information was to her hand on 28 Dec 2011 and instantly she apprised the WESCO CEO of this illegality in her written complaint.

But yet, no action is taken against the illegal users of energy and their collaborators in WESCO!

The WESCO chief is unable to throw any light on this scenario.

It is apparently clear that WESCO has started collaborating with housebreaking by miscreants in absence of legal owners and helping the housebreakers in power hijacking too.

What next!

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SOONER THE BENCH IN SAMBALPUR, THE BETTER

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak


Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Delay in establishment of a Bench of Orissa High Court in Sambalpur is delay in allowing law to stand with a very big segment of disadvantaged people of the State.

The High Court at Cuttack might be making the Cuttack lawyers rich; but people of the remote corners are perishing in absence of easily available protection from higher judiciary.

About ten years ago, Biswanath Mohapatra of Sambalpur, being well known to me, had requested me to find for him a good lawyer at Cuttack to conduct his case. I introduced him to a senior lawyer quite illustrious by his own accomplishments. After the lawyer agreed to file and represent him in the case, Mohapatra settled the total amount of fee with him and paid the amount in advance. During the decade Mohapatra has come to the lawyer’s chamber many times and has paid further money to his juniors as per their demands in hope that thereby the case would proceed. But the case has not proceeded. This is just an instance.

All the Mohapatras of Western Orissa, perishing because of the difficult distance from the protection of higher judiciary, are crying for a Bench of the High Court in Sambalpur. It is sad that their cries are not yet taken note of.

The lawyers of Western Orissa are again on strike in support of their outstanding demand for a Bench in their environment where they can assist the higher judiciary more ably in adjudication of cases that they are absolutely acquainted with by virtue of being the lawyers in the lower courts. We are at loss to understand why this minimum necessity of justice is being denied to the people.

We have shown in these pages earlier as to why a Bench of the High Court should be established in Sambalpur. And, we stand by that.

It is sad that neither the High Court Bar nor the High Court comes forward to help Western Orissa have a the Bench. Litigants of the western districts are unbearably suffering as they are unable to travel the far distance frequently to set their cases on appropriate motion.

People have a right to get due justice without difficulty and the State has a duty to facilitate that. The Government that plays no role in discharging this duty must be censored as anti-people.

It is time, Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, the autocrat ruler of democratic Orissa, who is so devotedly concentrating on serving the interest of POSCO and the Vedanta and the Tatas and the likes, should take up this urgent matter truly relevant to our people with the central government and with any functionary that matters in the matter of establishment of Benches of High Courts beyond their original seats and ensure that Sambalpur gets the Bench that the locals are crying for.

There should be no plea of paucity of funds. The fellows in power are known for unnecessary expenditure from the State Exchequer. This expenditure is necessary.

The sooner it is understood the better.

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SAMBALPUR SHOULD CERTAINLY GET THE HIGH COURT BENCH

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Lawyers of Sambalpur are on indefinite relay strike in support of their demand for a bench of the Orissa High Court.

Sambalpur should certainly get the High Court bench and every right thinking man of Orissa should support the demand.

The State Government as well as the Orissa High Court should take prompt steps in this favor and the lawyers of Cuttack should cooperate.

Peoples have every right to move courts without any disadvantage.

But who moves a Court? Only the disadvantaged peoples move the Courts.

When a person is disadvantaged by some other person(s) or system, he or she moves an appropriate Court for justice. A severely disadvantaged person, whose life and liberty fall into jeopardy, needs the High Court.

But seeking justice from the High Court of Orissa is often more disadvantageous than the disadvantage a litigant wants removed, if he or she does not live in or around the City of Cuttack, where the High Court sits.

To move the High Court one needs a lawyer who practices there. And, once a lawyer is fixed, the litigant falls into a labyrinth where he / she seldom finds the remedy within reach. The more eminent the lawyer the more becomes the cost of his advice and service and the more distant becomes the horizon of justice.

Let me cite an instance of how litigants from remote corners of the State feel suffocated by depending on lawyers of Cuttack. A young friend from Sambalpur, Sri Biswanath Mohapatra, disadvantaged in the matter of his rank in government service, had requested me to recommend an efficient lawyer of Cuttack, whom he should hand over his case.

Like all highlanders, Mohapatra is a simple natured upright person. And such a person usually does not like to be deliberately harassed by another person or any authority. And highlanders are by orientation too law abiding to resort to ‘Bijuism’ against miscreant mandarins in administrative offices.

Bijuism is a typical synonym of hooliganism.

When Chief Minister after decades long public rejection, Biju Patnaik was instigating the peoples of Orissa for beating the bureaucrats as and when any of them was hit by any bad orders issued by any office.

It had given birth to such anarchy that his own secretariat staff had assaulted Biju himself and the peoles of Orissa had thrashed him to dustbin in the subsequent elections.

So a person like Mohapatra could never have resorted to Bijuism to avenge the injustice he was subjected to. The only best remedy a man like him could have besought, was moving the Court for justice.

And, the appropriate Court (for him the High Court) was situated in Cuttack. This is why he had wanted me to find out a Cuttack based lawyer for him.

Amongst my many lawyer friends of Cuttack there is a senior one who is nationally well known and whom I personally respect. I asked him if he could help. He agreed. I informed Mohapatra. He came from Sambalpur with his file. The lawyer perused it and agreed to take up the case. He did not charge any consultation fee; but specified the amount that he would take in advance to conduct the case. The entire amount of money that he had demanded was paid in my presence.

The case was filed, was admitted and was registered vide a number of 2002.

And, the matter perhaps rests there.

Till date, Mohapatra has visited the lawyer many times and every time has paid for the juniors of the senior lawyer. But till date he has not been informed of any development.

How long is the period from 2002 to 2009?

The Court has many cases to settle and the lawyer has many cases to handle, he hears whenever he visits the chamber of the lawyer.

Who can stop the delay?

Should the lawyer not honestly say as to whether any case registered after this case in the year 2002 has so far been taken up or not?

Should the lawyer not think of the distance of Cuttack from Sambalpur and the turmoil his client must be going through during fruitless journeys in pursuit of justice?

Why he is not explaining him the real reason of delay?

As a man who had recommended this ‘eminent’ lawyer to Mohapatra, I am deeply embarrassed over the lackadaisical manner the seeker of justice is being treated with.

But this is not a solitary case.

This is just a sample of how peoples are being harassed because of the geographical distance of the citadel of justice from their places of dwelling.

On the other hand, the lawyers practicing in peripheral Courts suffer from acute mental agony when the inordinate delay in disposal of the appeal cases preferred by their clients in the High Court under their advice eclipses their professional credibility in the eyes of the persons disadvantaged by the lower Court verdict(s).

Had the High Court been having a bench at Sambalpur, peoples like Mahapatra might have pursued their cases through the lawyers of their locality. Cost of litigation should have drastically been less and the legal fraternity of Sambalpur side of Orissa could have earned utmost satisfaction out of their ability to professionally help their clients up to the highest stage of jurisprudence in the State.

I support the demand for a bench of Orissa High Court at Sambalpur and specifically at Sambalpur for the very reason that it is the peoples of Sambalpur that had facilitated creation of Orissa High Court.

It is here the peoples had revolted against disadvantage caused to them in seeking justice when Hindi was promulgated on 15.1.1895 as the court language by the then Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces to which the British had arbitrarily annexed the Sambalpur district.

The peoples’ movement for restoration of their mother tongue Oriya as the Court language so that justice shall not stay beyond their reach had made the British to review the position.

In July 1901, the peoples of Sambalpur District had placed their specific demands before the new Chief commissioner Sir Andrew Fraser, wherein they had stressed that if the Government does not appreciate to restore Oriya language in the Sambalpur District under the plea that it may be inconvenient for the administration to have a particular District of the Central Provinces managed by a language different from that of the province, the Sambalpur District be immediately separated from the CP and be merged in the Oissa Division.

Sir Fraser extensively traveled through out the Sambalpur District and noted the stark disadvantage the peoples were pushed into by denial of justice in their language and by keeping Courts out of their reach.

He sent to the Government of India a thorough report depicting the correctness of the peoples’ demand and suggested that the Sambalpur District should be separated from CP, “if it was thought impossible to have Oriya as the language of one of the Central provinces”.

Kula Gaurav Madhu Sudan Das on behalf of the Oriyas of Sambalpur moved a memorandum to the Government strengthening the same with Fraser’s findings, which the British Officer had also elaborated in his work “With the Rajas and Rayats”.

Though the Government did not agree to separate Sambalpur from CP, it decided to desist from keeping the Courts beyond the peoples’ reach and restored Oriya as the Court Language.

This administrative experience latter convinced the British to agree to restoration of Oriya speaking tracks to a Province and thus modern Orissa was created as the first State of India created on the basis of mother tongue.

Had there been no modern Orissa, there would never have been the High Court of Orissa.

To keep peoples of Sambalpur devoid of getting a bench of the Orissa High Court is not only an offense against the people of that area, but also an offense against history.

The entire population of Orissa must support the Sambalpur lawyers who are leading the most justified demand of the people who in fact had contributed their best to birth of Orissa.

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ERA OF POLITICAL KILLING COMMENCES IN ORISSA: OPPOSITION

Posted on February 18, 2006 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

An era of political killing has commenced in Orissa under the BJD-BJP coalition government, alleged independent member Shambunath Nayak in the Orissa Legislative Assembly on 17 Feb.2006 criticizing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his refusal to arrest Rajat Kumar Rai, Officer-In-Charge of Charmal Police Station even though he is the kingpin behind the ghastly murder of Harekrushna Pradhan, leader of Congress Party and Chairman of Rairakhol Panchayat Samiti of Sambalpur.

In a written reply to an adjournment motion moved by Narasinga Mishra, MLA from Loisinga and others on the subject of this murder by the local police and the alarming Law and Order situation in the State, the CM told the house that on basis of the allegation of the son of the deceased and taking intensive public stir over the issue into account, “Sub-Inspector Rajat Kumar Rai, OIC, Charmal P.S., Constable Sheshadev Pradhan, Constable Gunanidhi Behera, Constable M.R.Podha and Constable S.K.Behera have been placed under suspension and inquiry has been ordered into the incident by Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Sambalpur”.

The CM told the House that a person from Charmal P.S. area was killed by a wild bear on 14 Feb.2006. “The bear was moving near the dead body and was attacking anyone approaching the dead body”. Even though “the local forest staff, OIC of Charmal P.S., Sarapanch of Bharatpur G.P. along with around 500 villagers reached the spot to retrieve the dead body and the forest staff exploded crackers to scare away the wild bear, it did not yield results. Rather another person was injured by the bear”, the CM informed. According to him, “on 15 Feb.06 at about 7.30 A.M., OIC of Charmal P.S. with his staff and APR force accompanied by Sri Hrushikesh Pradhan, Chairman, Rairakhol Panchayat Samiti and some other villagers had been to the spot in village Vatra to retrieve the dead body. The violent bear which was hiding behind a bush suddenly attacked them. Sri Hrushikesh Pradhan fell down and the bear pounced on him. In order to save the life of Sri Pradhan and deter the violent bear from further attacks, the APR force fired 8 rounds from a .303 rifle. The bear was killed and Sri Pradhan sustained injuries. While Sri Pradhan was shifted to Rairakhol Sub-Divisioal Hospital for treatment in a police vehicle, he expired and was received dead at the Hospital”.

The Opposition refused to accept this story. The behavior of the bear narrated by the CM never tallies with reality. Bears do not keep guard on the carcasses of their victims for days and do not dare mobs and crackers. The CM is trying to escape with concocted explanations, members alleged. Even treasury bench heavyweight Pradeep Maharathi expressed doubts. Asking the CM to enlighten the House on what pattern of behavior is peculiar to a bear while attacking, to see if that matches the instant case, Maharathi said, “We political leaders are like NMR workers. The real government is controlled by bureaucrats, who want us to believe whatever is their version”.

The MLA of Rairakhol Sanatan Bisi supported the official version even as his colleagues M/s Kalpataru Das, Raghunath Mohanty, Debi Mishra of ruling BJD and Bimbadhar Kuanra of BJP stood with the CM.

Sitakanta Mohapatra of Congress wondered how the police can save the people when its armed constabulary is unable to hit the target and kills a man instead, if the statement of the CM has any iota of credibility. Mahes Sahoo pointed out that Law and Order situation has so severely deteriorated that people won’t dare to have nuptial nights without invoking police protection, but the ability of the police as depicted in Rairakhol firing would pose as a deterrent!

Jayadev Jena of Congress termed the death of Pradhan as an instance of political killing and Arun De of OGP asked the Government to stop the drama of an enquiry by its own apparatus. He demanded an enquiry by the CBI sans any dilly dally.

Reacting to the CM’s clarification that police OIC Rai is not being protected inasmuch as a case has been registered under section 302 that provides for prosecution for murder, Dr. Nrusingh Sahu of Congress said, the Government has nothing to claim credit for that. Sec.302 has been invoked on the basis of the FIR filed by the son of the deceased leader, not by the initiative of the Prosecution wing.

Castigating the government for its attempts to hush up the crime, Deputy Leader of Opposition Nrusingh Mishra had set the tone of attack on Government by rejecting an enquiry by the RDC as not dependable. It is a crime committed through the Police. The Police has executed a conspiracy to kill Sri Pradhan. It had lifted him from his residence under the guise of visiting the spot where the wild bear had killed a man and somewhere on the way had committed the cold-blooded murder. Three bullets had pierced the body of the Congress leader, one on the temple, one on torso and the other on the buttock, but there was no trace of piercing in the shirt he had worn. It clearly indicates that Sri Pradhan was denuded of his dresses before being shot at, Mishra, who had visited the bereaved family immediately after the news had shaken up Bhubaneswar, said. The bear episode is being used as a ploy to hoodwink the public, he emphasized. Why the Police killed him and/or at whose behest the Police killed him must be found out and for this, RDC is not adequate. He has no experience or expertise in crime investigation. An enquiry by the CBI is the only way to deal with the matter, he had stressed. Even, ruling party member Sanatan Bisi had opined that the suspended Police officer should have been arrested before absconding.

But it had no impact on the CM. Nobody can be arrested before guilt is established, he said, sticking to his decision for an administrative enquiry by the RDC.

People have manifested their irk by burning down the Charmal Police Station and demonstrating their protests in the largest congregation of general public ever having expressed their collective condemnation of Government in the usually peaceful forest land: Rairakhol.

But watching the Government at Bhubaneswar one is inclined to feel that the people at the helm of affairs have no efficiency in reading the writings on the wall.

Filed under: administration, Animadversion, Editorials, law and order, news, orissa, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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