By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: The opposition Congress in Orissa Thursday demanded probes by independent central agencies in allegations of large-scale corruption and scams in the state and sought President Pratibha Patil’s intervention in the matter.
State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik and several other leaders submitted a 32-page list of charges earlier in the day to the president at Delhi and apprised her of the lawlessness in the state, senior Congress leader Narasimha Mishra told reporters here.
“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik assumed office on a mandate to provide responsible, responsive, and transparent governance free of corruption,” Mishra said. “But now he and his government have (become synonymous with) corruption and non-governance.”
The allegations point to scores of scams involving thousands of crores of rupees in the past 11 years and include areas like mining, irrigation and health. Mishra also accused the government of favouring corporate interests at the expense of the common man.
The chargesheet has listed details of many alleged scams, including irregularities in the implementation of a centre-sponsored job scheme and the procurement and distribution of pulses to the children and women.
It also cites rampant corruption in the distribution of subsidised rice to families below the poverty line and permitting mining lease to companies despite opposition.
A senior leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal described the chargesheet as pure eyewash. “It is a document prepared by some frustrated people who have been rejected in the elections a number of times in the past,” he said.
Mishra further said that democratic values and parliamentary practices have also been thrown to the wind by the government. “It has no respect for constitutional institutions,” he added.
Orissa became the first state to pass the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act way back in 1970s to put in place a mechanism to deal with complaints relating to corruptions, he said.
It is evident, he argued, from the fact that 26 special reports and annual consolidated reports of the Lokpal are yet to be laid before the assembly, as required by statute, despite repeated reminders of the governor.