proposalBhubaneswar, Jan 7 (PTI) Union Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan today urged Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik to review the state government's decision of notbecoming part of the Centre's backward district developmentinitiative.
“I request Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to review thedecision. The Centre has not forced any decision on the state.
The state has all rights to bring in changes in the proposal.
Besides, the whole process will be carried out under the ChiefSecretary," Pradhan told reporters two days after the Odishagovernment boycotted a meeting of Niti Aayog addressed byPrime Minister Narendra Modi.
Pradhan said only two states -- Odisha and West Bengal-- did not send district collectors to the meeting.
Pradhan clarified that the Niti AayogÂ’s proposalshould not be seen as an interference of the Centre into thebusiness of the state.
Pradhan said OdishaÂ’s Chief Secretary A P Padhi wasapproached by the Niti Aayog several times to cooperate withthe initiative so that eight districts of the state would getspecial attention.
"Odisha Chief Secretary is an intelligent person. Ido not know who pressurised him to write that Odisha was nottaken into confidence while appointing the Prabhari officersby the Centre,” the minister said.
Opposing the Centre’s action of appointing IASofficers as Prabhari (in-charge) officers in eight mostbackward districts of Odisha – Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Gajapati,Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Bolangir – toaddress specific developmental needs, the state government haddecided to give the event a miss, he said.
While requesting Patnaik ro reconsider the state'sdecision in regard to the backward area development, Pradhansaid: "The chief minister should prove that he is the bestadministrator through actions and not just words."Meanwhile, ruling BJD spokesperson P K Deb said thestate government has already appointed senior IAS officers formonitoring the developmental works in all the districts andthere was no need to appoint more officers for the same job.
The objective of the Centre's initiative is totransform 115 backward districts across the country of which35 are affected by Left Wing violence. PTI AAMJM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.