BHUBANESWAR: A day after joining BJP, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi on Sunday lambasted the BJD Government for neglecting tribals in the last 19 years.
Dubbing the Naveen Patnaik Government anti-tribal, Majhi said the development which has taken place in tribal areas including Nabarangpur was possible in the last five years due to liberal financial assistance of the Centre.
Alleging that nothing significant happened in his district in the last 19 years, the first-time MP said he joined BJD with the dream of doing something for Nabarangpur.
“I was immensely hurt to see the way in which people of tribal areas were neglected by the State Government. When I realised that I am being stabbed from the back by some vested interests who are conspiring to oust me from the party, I decided to quit,” he said.
He further alleged that the State Government is deliberately stalling Central projects, especially the ones funded by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. “What is more galling is that the State Government has failed to ensure minimum support price for minor forest produce announced by the Centre,” he said.
The tribal leader, who left his Central Government job to join BJD, claimed that there is no college in four blocks of his district even after 70 years of independence. “My efforts to open a college in the left-out blocks were opposed by my political opponents,” he said.
Majhi also accused the State Government of promoting self-financing colleges in tribal areas. “Who will afford such high cost education when people are still struggling for existence? The tragedy is that Nabarangpur is educationally backward despite a tribal leader from the district being a Cabinet Minister and close to the Chief Minister,” he said.
Majhi further alleged that the State Government formed the Special Tribal Council only to fool people. The very purpose of the council has been lost as it became centre for rehabilitation of political people, he said.
Responding to the MP, ST and SC Development Minister Ramesh Majhi said the former is making baseless allegations. “People will give a befitting reply to him in the upcoming elections,” he said.