Bhubaneswar: The state Assembly Monday witnessed repeated adjournments after question hour as the members of ruling BJD and Opposition Congress and BJP created pandemonium over Mahanadi and farmers’ issues.
Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat, however, managed to pass additional expenditure statement of 39 departments applying guillotine amidst the din in the House.
After the question hour, the BJP members raised the farmers issue and stormed into well of the House demanding loan waiver. They shouted slogans against the BJD government and termed it as “anti-farmer”.
The farmers of the state are badly affected as the kharif crop has been hit by drought, subsequent pest attack and unseasonal rain.
The BJD members, on the other hand, raised the Mahanadi issue and accused the Centre of being partisan.
They alleged that the Central government is supporting the BJP ruled Chhattisgarh which is constructing projects at upstream of Mahanadi river “illegally.”
Orissa has been opposing construction of a number of barrages and dams by Chhattisgarh on the upper reaches of the Mahanadi River saying it would affect the state’s farmers.
The Centre had told the Supreme Court December 6 that the ongoing dispute between Orissa and Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi should be sorted out through negotiations between the parties concerned.
Sanjay Dasburma of the BJD claimed that Chhattisgarh government has planned river interlinking to draw more water from Mahanadi and, in that case, the riverbed in Orissa would be dried up.
Among heated exchange of words between members of the two parties, Speaker Amat adjourned the House till 3 pm.
When the House reassembled, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress sought a ruling from the Speaker on the alleged exploitation of paddy farmers at government ‘mandis’.
Mishra said the agriculture minister should clarify in the House as to why the government mandis deduct about 5 kg on each 100 kg of paddy being sold by farmers.
As the Speaker proceeded with other business, Congress MLAs rushed to well and raised anti-government slogans alleging distress sale of paddy by farmers. While the BJP members also joined the Congress MLAs, treasury bench members again raised the Mahanadi issue creating a ruckus and Amat adjourn the House twice till 4.28 pm.
When the House re-assembled, a similar scene was
recreated by the opposition members.
Maoist situation in 8 dists challenging: Naveen
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday said the Maoist situation in at least eight districts of the state continues to “remain challenging” even as there has been a substantial improvement in the situation in other districts.
In a written reply to Congress member Naba Kishore Das in the Assembly, Patnaik named the eight districts as Malkangiri, Koraput, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Bolangir, Bargarh and Angul.
The Chief Minister told the Assembly that as many as 13 districts were hit by the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence since 2007 which included Malkangiri, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jajpur and Dhenkanal. Patnaik said the LWE situation in Gajapati, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Nuapada, Boudh, Nayagarh, Deogarh and Sundargarh was under control.
He said there has been no incident of Maoist violence reported from Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Nabarangpur and Ganjam districts so far. Patnaik, in the Assembly December 8, had said there was substantial improvement in the LWE scenario in the state.
“Improvement of police infrastructure, recruitment of armed personnel, specialised training and a progressive policy of surrender and rehabilitation have led to improvement in the situation,” Patnaik had said. The state has, meanwhile, requested the Centre to send additional Central forces to be deployed in areas prone to Maoist violence.
351 students arrested in three years
Bhubaneswar: As many as 351 students of various technical institutions in the state were arrested for indulging in various criminal activities in last three years.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik revealed this in the Assembly in a written reply to a question of member Raseswari Panigrahi.
On the other hand, 74 per cent of these incidents took place in the state capital here
between 2014 and 2017 in which 262 students were booked, it was learnt.
Patnaik, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that the students of the technical institutes are being counseled to keep them away from having such negative mindset.
The information furnished by the Chief Minister revealed that 86 students were booked for their alleged involvement in criminal activities in
2014. The figure was 46 in 2015; 96 in 2016; and
123 in 2017 till November end.
In hubaneswar 79 technical students were booked for criminal activities in 2014, 41 were arrested in 2015, 67 in 2016 and 75 till
November 30, 2017.
In comparison, Cuttack city which is under the jurisdiction of Twin City Commissionerate Police, recorded less number of criminal cases committed by the students. No such cases were reported in Cuttack in 2014 and 2015 while only one student was arrested in 2016 and two students till November 11, 2017, it was learnt.
Dhenkanal, however, is another district where 37 such cases were reported till November end of this year. The district had recorded no such incidents in 2014 and 2015 while one case was reported in 2016. Khurda where 25 technical students had been booked last year for their alleged involvement in criminal cases, however, has not recorded any such cases till November end this year.
Angul and Keonjhar districts have recorded two such cases each this year till November.
Compensation for small investors of ponzi firms
Bhubaneswar: Around 12,397 small depositors who were duped by chit fund scamsters have been identified by the MM Das commission so far. Compensation will be paid to them after field level verification of claims, Finance Minister Sashibhusan Behera informed the Assembly Monday.
The minister, in his written reply to Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati, said the commission which had been formed for identification of duped investors received 8.96 lakh affidavits from depositors in the multi-crore ponzi scheme scam.
After primary verification, 8.17 lakh affidavits were found to be valid. The remaining 79,059 affidavits were declared void.
The minister during this year’s monsoon session had said that of the 8.17 valid affidavits, the commission examined 3.41 lakh affidavits and had shortlisted 75,713 small investors for further inquiry of their claims. The minister said that acting on the commission’s advise, the government in the first two phases had taken up field inquiry in 12,397 cases for identification of genuine investors and they will be provided compensation shortly.
The minister said the government has extended support for the identification of duped genuine investors and for compensating them. He said that 1,226 duped investors have already been paid back by ponzi firms.
As per the criteria set by the commission, people who have invested less than `10,000 in a chit fund company are classified as small investors and will get priority in refund of money.
In 2013, when irregularities in the ponzi scam scheme came to the light, the government announced creation of a `300 crore corpus fund to return money to investors and also set up a commission July 9, 2013 headed by retired Justice RK Patra.
PNN