Bhubaneswar: The state government has turned down the Modi government’s unilateral decision on appointment of bureaucrats as prabhari (in-charge) officers for eight backward districts of the state.
The NITI Aayog in last November year appointed officers of additional secretary and joint secretary rank as prabhari of 115 backward districts, including eight in Orissa, to monitor execution of developmental programmes. The Aayog had also asked the state government to appoint secretary-level officers as nodal officers for these districts.
Disapproving of the unilateral move by the Centre, the state government turned down the proposal. The state also disliked the unilateral identification of the districts and labeling them as most backward, sources said.
The state government also felt that the Centre’s decision is against the spirit of cooperative federalism. Not only Orissa, West Bengal has also rejected the Centre’s move. The state government has instructed the collectors of identified eight districts not to attend prabhari officers’ meet to be held January 4 and 5, the sources said. Besides, the government has asked the prabhari officers selected by the Centre for Orissa to wait.
The Centre appointed Aparajita Sarangi as district prabhari of Kalahandi, Jatindra Nath Swain for Dhenkanal, Nikunja Kumar Sundarray for Kandhamal, Satya Brata Sahu for Rayagada, Barun Mitra for Koraput, Suresh Kumar Vasishth for Bolangir, Sanjeev Kumar Chadha for Gajapati and Santosh Sarangi for Malkangiri.
PNN
