Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
One may cheat some for some days, some for all days; but not all for all days, says an axiom.
Chief Minister of Orissa – Naveen Patnaik – is experiencing this at the moment, as day by day, now a days, one after one scandals and scams are getting exposed making him stripped of his cultivated credibility layer by layer.
This has put the government in fidgets.
Ministers are so perturbed that one of them, Bijoyshree Routray, who holds the revenue portfolio, has today crossed all limits of decency and discipline; and has used abusive, obnoxious terms for the Press reporters that were seeking update information on a land scam. Lenses have captured him live in using physical force against the scribes in his secretariat chamber while shouting them out and alarmingly setting his hand on collar/throat of a reporter of Focus Odisha TV channel.
Bijoyshree was known for his composure. But, in what he did today, he exceeded all wild conduct a mad man could have exhibited.
He was earlier known as a bribe-taker, as, for an instance, his palms were allegedly greased with Rs.5 lakhs for clearance of a bill of Rs.25 lakhs in ‘Orissa Health System Development Project’.
The State Government had succumbed to World Bank pressure to take a loan of Rs.415 crores to develop its health system. The loan was granted against stipulated standard of work. But sub-standard execution of work had vitiated the project. World Bank had searched for the reason through its own experts and, bribe taken by the minister was found to be a major reason of sub-standard execution of the project. In a statement on January 11, 2005, the World Bank had put it on records. During the alleged period, Bijoyshree Routroy was the Health Minister, the Chief Secretary of Orissa, at that time Ajit Kumar Tripathy, had informed the Press. So, thus was he known as a bribe-taker.
Now he is known for land scam committed under his nose at Ghangapatna of Bhubaneswar as recently exposed, over and above embezzlement of a vast plot in the Capital City’s high-net-worth industrial area in Unit 3 for personal residential use despite having taken the same in high concessional rate in the name of his wife on lease for a hospital.
From now on, he shall be known for attack on media in fear of further exposure.
Scores of acres of highly valuable land are not traceable in revenue records, when it is now public knowledge that some blue-eyed-boys of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were the kingpins in Ghangapatna land scam comprising a patch of about 80 Acres, where to exclusivity was ensured through compound walls and a serving road, erected, obviously, by any hidden beneficiary of clout with the powers that be; whom the Patnaik government has not brought to books as yet.
Reporters were to ascertain what progress has been made on this score.
But, they had no idea that a senior and experienced minister like Bijoyshree Routroy was to irrupt so obnoxiously on seeing them making the query.
It is time for the Chief Minister to come out of his cocoon of nonchalance and say as to why it has not occurred to him so far that a political government in a democracy is never above answerability to the people, howsoever be its strength in the House of Representatives.
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