New Delhi: Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan (BJD) Thursday raked up the issue of Mahanadi again during the Zero Hour and urged the Centre to ask the Chhattisgarh government to stop works on the Mahanadi River.
Raising the issue in the Lower House, Pradhan said, “I want to draw your kind attention that the Orissa government has requested the Centre to constitute a tribunal immediately to resolve the dispute over the projects on Mahanadi River between Orissa and Chhattisgarh governments. However, no action was taken by the Central government.”
“Rather Chhattisgarh government has been allowed to uninterruptedly go ahead with the disputed projects in Mahanadi River Basin. It is, therefore, essential that a necessary order is issued to the Government of Chhattisgarh to stop construction of disputed projects till a tribunal is constituted to resolve this issue,” he added.
Earlier, Cuttack MP also tried to raise the Mahanadi issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker and urged her to have a wider debate. He said, “Wednesday, you had heard us about the Mahanadi water dispute. We are waiting for your decision. We need your decision as quickly as possible. That is our demand.”
However, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan sought more time to look into the matter and decide on the future course of action.
Orissa pension model is best, says Mahtab
New Delhi: Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) Thursday told the Lok Sabha that the pension disbursement model of Orissa is the best in the country which according to him has been emphasised by the scholars too.
Mahtab said this when the supplementary demand for grants were tabled for discussion in the Lower House. Mahtab, who took on the government against the Centre’s move to force states to disburse pensions through bank accounts, said in cases of shortage of banking institutions disbursement of cash as pension, as per the Orissa model, is the best suited for the states.
He said, “Now a decision has been taken by the rural development ministry that all disbursements related to NSAP will be disbursed through banks. There are many states where the panchayats do not have the banks and in many areas shortage of staff in banks are reported.”
He also added, “In Orissa, on the 15th of every month at the panchayat level the beneficiaries are called and pensions are disbursed to them. We do not have adequate banking system but though our model we try to reach out to the most vulnerable sections of the society. Our model has been emphasised as the best model by scholars in the past.”
Meanwhile, Mahtab also raised the issue of non-revision of coal royalty in coal bearing states and bombarding them with clean energy cess. He also talked about disbursement of crop loans in an effective manner.
The MP meanwhile also asked the Centre to revisit the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act citing the failures of the government which could make it a Herculean task for the Centre to meet the target of fiscal deficit in 2017-18. Mahtab cited the instances of inflation, lower growth, higher oil prices and issues that are affecting the Indian economy at large.
State sanitation coverage up by 34% in three years
New Delhi: The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Thursday in a written statement in Lok Sabha stated that the sanitation coverage in Orissa has increased by 34 per cent since the launching of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The response came after Bolangir MP Kalikesh Singh Deo sought a reply on the matter relating to implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in Orissa. Deo had sought to know about the extent of coverage in states under the scheme. In response to the query, Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti claimed that Orissa still has lower than 50 per cent coverage in terms of sanitation (toilet coverage under the mission).
The minister in the statement said, “The states which are lowest in terms of sanitation coverage are Bihar, UP, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir.” She also added that the best performing states under the Mission which has ensured largest coverage of household toilets under the mission included-Rajasthan, Gujarat and others. She said, “The ministry regularly reviews the performance of the states. Good progress has been registered in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra since the launch of the mission October 2, 2014”
She said that these states have successfully implemented the programme and have effectively involved communities in planning, implementation and management of the programme.
According to the written statement, Orissa October 2, 2014 had the sanitation coverage of 10.22 per cent which notched up to 44.60 per cent till December 15 this year. The report also claimed that states like Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar have sanitation coverage below Orissa at 41.29% and 35.23% respectively while states like Kerala, Sikkim and Arunachal have achieved 100 per cent sanitation.
PNN
