Orissa Matters

Orissa Chief Minister vandalises the Law, appoints de facto Cabinet Ministers behind back of the Governor

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Orissa Chief Minister has appointed three of his followers as members of the State Planning Board, by name Prasanna Patsani, Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik and Sadhu Nepak. Whereas Patsani and Patnaik are given Cabinet rank, Nepak is placed in the rank of a Minister of State. All these three fellows are activists of BJD that the CM heads.

Notwithstanding their grade, the rank of minister bestows upon these ruling party politicians the privileges that the members of the Council of Ministers are empowered with. These fellows would enjoy all powers that are vested in the legally appointed ministers, but shall not be answerable to the people.

In a State, Cabinet and other ministers are appointed by the Governor under the provisions of the Constitution of India and function as per the Rules of Business, which the Governor frames and promulgates under Art.166 of the Constitution. Neither the Constitution nor the Rules of Business has any provision for such de facto members of the cabinet.

The Orissa Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Act, 1952 has no provision for de facto ministers. Hence the Director of Treasuries is not empowered to pay the salaries and allowances of these fellows appointed in the rank of ministers. But he is bound to pooh-pooh the Act in the instant case.

Sad, the Governor of Orissa is a silent spectator to this vandalisation of Law!

HSRP:A method to test how far people bear with arbitrary administrative action

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Affixation of High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) on vehicles, with threat of heavy penalty to defaulters, is perhaps a method to test how far people bear with arbitrary administrative action.

The term ‘high security’ is not defined in Law and nobody knows how his/her vehicle would be secured by this high security registration plate. Vehicle owners have affixed registration plates in earmarked spaces of their respective vehicles. They have spent money for that. Why are they being forced to spend more money in these HSRPs?

Governments, both at the Center and in the States have not declared their own responsibility in respect to vehicles that comply with the HSRP order.

Affixation of registered number plate on a vehicle is controlled under Section 39 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 that reads as follows:

“No person shall drive any motor vehicle and no owner of a motor vehicle shall cause or permit the vehicle to be driven in any public place or in any other place unless the vehicle is registered in accordance with this Chapter and the certificate of registration of the vehicle has not been suspended or cancelled and the vehicle carries a registration mark displayed in the prescribed manner.”

Thus, preparation and affixation of necessary plates to display registration number of the vehicles was the responsibility of owners thereof. This had allowed every vehicle owner to prepare his /her own number plate and affix the same in the vehicle. So, subjecting those vehicle owners to rush to a particular person / farm through electronic means to get a high security plate without knowing the scope and limit of high security and further subjecting them to a panic period generated by the threat of a menacing cash penalty is blatantly arbitrary.

Data in the high security plate would help in identifying a stolen vehicle, the government say. But they do not say what punishment shall be given to the officer who fails to retrieve the vehicle even after identification.

Government in a democracy mustn’t be a vehicle for intimidating the people with threat of cash punishment as is happening in HSRP matter that has retrospective effect.

NGO award to Naveen Patnaik should be enquired into

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Sycophants have congested Bhubaneswar roads as in thousands they are brought to the capital city to show strength of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to people who are crying to have their right to be administered in their mother tongue ORIYA.

Orissa has lost her mana in Naveenraj with her geographical boundaries as well as major river systems severely threaten by neighbouring provinces. Mr. Patnaik has never visited the border to stand with people, who are fighting for survival of their identity vis-a-vis the people of the rival tongues.

According to a none-contradicted confession of a treasury bench heavyweight in the Assembly, 93% people of Orissa do not understand English. But in Naveenraj, administration is working in English. People are kept in dark about how the government works. The Official Language Act, 1954 is being everyday violated by the CM and his team sans qualms.

Mr. Naveen Patnaik is marked for contravention of almost all the Acts enacted during his tenure as Chief Minister. He has even resorted to atrophy the Language Law by fraudulent means in order only to deny the people of Orissa their right to be governed in their State-Language.

There is not a single year within his tenure as Chief Minister when severe lapses in his governance is not reported by the Accountant General.

Yet a New Delhi based NGO styled Capital Foundation has conferred on him a dubious award under the pretense ‘Lifetime Achievement’. It seems the NGO has never verified the reality in Orissa and its study of Orissa scenario is absolutely superficial. This award given to Patnaik should be enquired into, as this is a design to mislead the people of Orissa that are perishing under his constant misrule.

Whenever Patnaik finds himself in political crisis and his public image appears comical even to his followers he feels, he cultivates such an award to dazzle the pewople of Orissa, a trick ETV in 2006 had trained him in.

The award in question is organised to hoodwink the people after his legislative misconduct was bared by the founder of Bhasha Andolan in his densely documented book Oriya Bhashaku Naveenanka MaranaAghata (Naveen’s deathblow to Oriya Language) and the Governor was moved to recall his assents to the amendments of Orissa Official Language Act, 1954.

Chief Minister should say if Buddhia Singh is dead or alive

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Onus lies on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to show that the most celebrated child of Orissa Buddhia Singh is not dead.

It is he who had contested against Buddhia Singh in a state-managed fight to become “Priya Oriya” (the most popular person of Orissa) and in the final round had won the contest through mobile phone voting. The four year old illiterate child was a slum dweller and had not even known that a major TV channel (ETV) had dragged him to this contest. I had detailed the sordit game played against the poor illeterate boy in these pages at that time.

Narrowly survived in the contest, the Chief Minister was obviously affraid of nullification of the so-called election and exposuure of his mischief if Buddha Singh challenges the stage-managed victory of Naveen Patnaik.

His government subjected the legendary four year old boy to prosecution and destruction of his morale and surprisingly his mentor Biranchi Das was killed.

The Government had taken Buddhia forcefully into its care under the pretence of training him up in every possible professional way to become the world’s greatest marathon walker. What happened to him nobody knows. Neither the Sports Department nor the Child Development Department that had thrown Buddhia Singh forcibly into the care of the Sports Department is able to say where is he at the moment.

Bellow are a few links to my discussions on Buddhia Singh at that time.

ETV ORGANIZES ORISSA CM’S VICTORY OVER A FOUR YEAR OLD POOR BOY

BUDDHIA SINGH: VICTIM OF A POLITICAL VENDETTA

RULES RAPED: CHILD DEVELOPMENT MINISTER MISUSES POWER TO HARASS BUDDHIA SINGH

MEDIACRACY IN ACTION_NAVEEN VERSUS BUDDHIA SINGH IN ETV TRICKS: CREDIBILITY IS AT STAKE

The Government was conspicus with its silence over them.

Critically ill patients are pushed into savage death by the State Government, as 80% Blood Centres have no NAT-PCR screening

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Hospitals are meant to cure illness and give new lease of life to the patients. But blood transfusion is an area where patients may be pushed into savage-death if the infused blood is contaminated with HIV I&II, HBV or HCV. This is happening in Orissa, as 80% of Government Blood Centres in the State have no NAT PCR screening facility, despite a mandatory order of the High Court of Orissa in W.P. (C) No. 13441 of 2009.

This was a case of a three year old boy of Baramba infested with AIDS due to infusion of blood contaminated with the dreaded HIV obtained from Blood Bank of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The shocked father of the Boy Sri Pratap Kumar Nayak had moved the High Court for direction to the Government for treatment of his only son. The State had claimed that the blood was ELISA tested and hence safe. After in-depth analysis of reality, in its judgment delivered on 28 July 2011, the High Court held the State Government responsible for the unsafe blood given to the unsuspecting patient and directed that NAT-PCR testing of blood in all the blood banks must be a must for the government. An excerpt of the verdict:

‘Needless to say that blood donated by one saves life of another. Donation of blood is a noble work. In order to achieve this avowed objective all necessary safeguards must be taken while collecting, testing, storing and supplying blood. Otherwise, instead of saving the life, the contaminated blood would take the life. It is not disputed that during window period, unless the special test known as Antizen test is conducted through Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) method, the virus cannot be identified. Therefore, the Government must ensure that in all blood Banks the Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) method is available to identify the virus of HIV during window period. We, further direct opposite party no.1-State to provide free medical treatment to the baby of the petitioner who is a HIV patient.”

The Government did not bother about implementing the Order. And on the other hand, mandarins of the health Department contemplated on moving the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict.

The victim belonging to my area, his father Pratap Kumar Nayak had attracted my attention to this problem. I had exposed the malady under the title “Shocking Reality: AIDS Being Aided by Government of Orissa”.

As the Government did not comply with the welfare order, we went on discussing the issue as often and as deeply as possible. This attracted attention of the then Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan, who raised a powerful debate in the Assembly over the matter. In reply to his motion, the Minister of Health assured the House on September 01, 2012 that the High Court Order would be fully honored and the Government will take all steps to install the NAT-PCR facility all over the State, to begin with the three Medical Colleges of the Government. ORISSA MATTERS recorded the development under an apt caption on September 02, 2012.

But the progress was impaired due to disposition of officials whose design to challenge the High Court order was defeated with the assurance of the Health Minister in the Assembly.

Young Odisha leader Amit Abhijit Samal moved the High Court in W.P.( C ) No.25727 of 2017 seeking implementation of the High Court order of 2011 in public interest. The mindset of Orissa officials is such that, in reply to the writ petition, they ventured to tell the Court in an affidavit on 25.07.2018 that, “A latest version of ELISA kits are going to be introduced throughout the State, which will substantially reduce the window period without much financial implication.”

Is the ELISA method as capable of detecting the above viruses in their window period as is NAT-PCR?

No. The Hon’ble High Court had observed in the 2009 case.

And the Directorate of Blood Safety, Odisha has also said so in a recent reply to a query under RTI.

Samples reported Negative in ELISA found Posive in NAT PCR

The Directorate has admitted that during the period from June 2016 to July 2022, as many as 2668 units of blood reported NEGATIVE in ELISA method were found POSITIVE in NAT-PCR test (Letter No. 676/SBTC, dt.22.8.2022).

This means, if the samples were not rechecked in NAT-PCR method, 2668 cases claimed to be safe due to clearance in ELISA could have severely affected the patients, exactly as had happened to the 3-year old victim of unsafe blood, a phenomenon which had formed the crux of W.P. (C) No. 13441 of 2009.

It is shocking that, despite office-records of the Directorate of Blood Safety, Odisha showing that as many as 2668 cases shown negative in ELISA test were detected positive in NAT-PCR screening, the officials of the health department have told the High Court in W.P.( C ) No.25727 of 2017 that “ELISA kits are going to be introduced throughout the State”. If anything it means, health department officials want unsafe blood to be infused to unsuspecting patients, as thereby “financial implication” would not be “much”.

According to the Directorate of Blood Safety, Odisha, the following Blood Centres have adopted NAT-PCR method: (1) SCB MHC, Cuttack, (2) VIMSAR, Burla, (3) MKCG MCH, Berhampur, (4) PRM MCH, Baripada, (5) FM MCH, Balasore, (6) SBB MCH, Bolangir, (7) SLN MCH, Koraput, (8) Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar, (9) BMC Hospital, Bhubaneswar, (10) Central Red Cross Blood Centre, Cuttack and (11) OBC DHH, Jeypore. Orissa, according to this Directorate, has 55 numbers of Govt. Blood Centres. This shows that 80% of the Govt. Blood Centres are using ELISA method, which is, as shown above, incapable of detecting HIV I&II, HBV and HCV in window period their entirety. It otherwise means, 80% of Orissa Government Blood Centres are supplying possibly unsafe blood to unsuspecting patients. This further means, the Baramba case is being repeated in the areas of 80% Govt. Blood Centres in Orissa under the plea of “financial implication”. Sad, under such a fictitious plea, blood collected in 80% of the Govt. Blood Centers are given to critically ill patients, whose lives depend on Blood Transfusion, without them knowing that the blood given to them might be carrying the most dreaded HIV I&II or HBV or HCV.

If financial implication is not to be “much”, the Govt. should cover the ELISA dependent Blood Centres with the Centres where NAT-PCR facility is in operation exactly as it has done in cases of BMC Hospital Bhubaneswar, CRCBC Cuttack and OBC DHH, Jeypore. But the conduct of the Government is murkier than sincere in its approach to the terminally ill patients who live within geographical limits of 80% of the Govt. Blood Centres, mostly in rural areas and depend on blood transfusion for living.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seems to have developed a wrong notion that governance of Orissa in Oriya depends upon his mercy. His press-note of December 17 and full page display advertisement in major broadsheets of today force us to arrive at this apprehension.

In his December 17 press note it was declared that he had held a meeting with the five members of the ministerial committee on that day for the purpose of “strictly implementing the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 in official and non-official level” to facilitate which a website has been floated by the government. In the full page multi-color advertisement in broadsheet dailies today, this is intriguingly missing.

The advertisement is designed to tell the people that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken historical steps to save and develop Oriya language, and has enumerated the steps he has taken. This is blatant lie. Neither he nor his government has executed any single item claimed to be “historical” in the official advertisement. The entire advertisement is nothing but false propaganda. What a shame it is, that, the people of Orissa are taken for granted by their Chief Minister! Read more →