Baripada: Hectic lobbying is going on among the leaders of ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for the posts of chairperson and vice chairperson in the special development council (SDC) in the tribal district of Mayurbhanj.
Notably, the state government established SDCs in nine tribal dominated districts—Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur – in 2017. The tribal people comprise nearly 50 per cent of the population in these nine districts. Since April 2019, the chairperson and vice chairperson posts in the SDC of Mayurbhanj have been lying vacant.
No new work can be started due to the problem (non-appointment), especially the construction of Jahira Pitha
- Bijan Kumar Thamb| Nodal officer, SDC
It may be mentioned here that the SDCs’ key objectives are conservation and propagation of tribal culture, reorganisation of indigenous knowledge, documentation of tribal culture, traditions and, practices, identification of tribal resources, organising exposure visits, promotion of tribal language and dialects, and area specific development interventions in the districts.
But in Mayurbhanj, these developmental works have remained stagnant as the top SDC posts are vacant.
After the BJD formed its government in the state, some party leaders have been eyeing these two positions. Besides these two, two reserved posts among the 23 other members are also lying vacant. The members can hold the office for a term of two years.
Since the rank of SDC chairperson is equivalent to that of minister of state (MoS), party workers are waiting eagerly for the CM’s announcement.
The state government had appointed Debashis Marndi as the chairperson of the SDC in the district in 2017. He had to resign from the post when he contested for Lok Sabha on BJD ticket from the district.
Likewise, BJD leader Basanti Hembram was appointed as vice-chairperson of the council. She had to quit the post as she contested as an MLA candidate from Karanjia Assembly constituency which she won.
However, council member Golaka Bihari Nayak had got MLA ticket from BJD for Jashipur Assembly constituency but he was defeated by ER Ramsingh Khuntia of BJP.
Nodal officer of SDC Bijan Kumar Thamb said that there are 23 members in the council including the chairperson and vice chairperson. Now the posts of chairperson, vice chairperson and two members of the council are lying vacant. It is only the government which can take a decision on the vacant posts, he added.
He further said that various tribal developmental programmes are affected due to the vacant posts. Only the works that had begun sometime back are continuing; no new work can be started due to the problem, especially construction of Jahira Pitha.
There are no signals from the party that Debashis Marndi will be appointed to the chairperson’s post again or not. Party workers think the party may rehabilitate Sanand Marandi as the chairperson of the SDC as he was not given the MLA ticket for Baripada Assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, the tribal community in the district has demanded to fill the vacant position in the SDC so that the social and cultural developmental works will run smoothly.
