TALCHER: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on Saturday, pilloried the state government for abetting corruption the magnitude of which he alleged can be gauged from the huge seizure of cash from government officials in the last six months.
Addressing Gariba Kalyan Samabesha, a public meeting here, Pradhan said he has a list of 20 to 25 cases that have been reported in the last six months wherein over Rs 100 crore have been seized by Vigilance.
“The officials caught by Vigilance included police officers, executive engineers, assistant sub-collectors, clerks and other government servants. The money belongs to the poor and downtrodden but is being siphoned off,” he said.
Referring to the vigilance raid on an assistant sub-collector of Nabarangpur two days back Pradhan said, Rs 3 crore were seized from his possession by the Vigilance. “And a photo of the same officer currently in circulation shows the patronage he enjoys from the close aides of the chief minister. This proves that corruption is taking place under the knowledge of the Third Floor,” Pradhan said.
The union minister said though the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited has spent crores for Talcher Medical College building construction and running of the hospital, the state government is yet to make it functional, much to the discontentment of the local people.
“In last six to seven years, Angul district has paid a whopping Rs 60,000 crore to the state exchequer in the form of royalty, GST and other revenues. But the state government is not doing justice to the region. Rather the Modi government has allocated huge funds for development works in Angul district,” he said.
Besides Talcher Fertiliser and TTPS project, the Centre will construct the Angul-Talcher loop line, Angul-Sukinda rail connectivity and other developmental works in the region, he said adding, the stark contrast between nine years of Modi government and 23 years of BJD misrule in the state can be seen by everyone.
Former MP Rudra Narayan Pani and district BJP president Dileswar Pradhan were present at the meeting.