BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu on Monday accused the state government of conspiring to stall all development projects in Mayurbhanj district that are supported and financed by the Centre including the revival of Amarda airstrip under UDAN scheme.
Tudu told a media conference here that after initial reluctance to pay `26 crore compensation for the acquisition of land from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the state government paid the amount with certain conditions after three months of receiving the no-objection certificates from the Defence Ministry.
He said the DRDO authority was supposed to hand over 160.35 acre of defence land to the state government on October 10, 2023 but the Mayurbhanj district collector who was to take over the possession of the land gave the programme a miss. “When I asked the district collector why he did not turn up, he said he was under instruction from the government not to attend the programme,” he added.
Once the airstrip becomes operational, it will not only boost trade, commerce and tourism of northern Odisha but neighbouring states like Jharkhand and West Bengal will equally benefit from it, he stated. “This is not the first instance of neglect by the state government to a project of immense importance to the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district. Earlier, the government had scuttled an investors meet in the district for which I had taken personal interest,” Tudu said.
He said that a number of proposals to develop tourist spots in the district are not getting materialised due to non-cooperation of the state government which fears that the Narendra Modi government will take all credit if these are implemented.