BHUBANESWAR: Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday called upon members in the Assembly to refrain from politicising tragedy relating to women and children, Opposition came down heavily on the Government for growing number of crime and ‘alarmingly’ deteriorating law and order situation. Congress members walked out of the House not satisfied with the reply of the Chief Minister.
Initiating the debate on the Supplementary demand for grants of the Home department, leader of the Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik alleged that all forms of crime including rape, murder and dacoity have increased more than two fold, though the government remained in denial by introducing the 5T charter. Criticising the government for always avoiding the core issues, Naik said that though the Opposition members are raising such issues regularly, the Government has never responded.
Referring to a reply of Government in the Assembly on the crime situation, Leader of the Opposition said by May, 2019 about 45,628 cognisable offences including 937 cases of rape and 937 murders have been registered. Stating that more than 300 cases of crime per day have been registered so far in 2019, Naik said 2,502 cases of rape was recorded in 2018 which was more than 2017.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingh Mishra said low conviction rate has emboldened the criminals. Even as more than two lakh cases are pending, the conviction rate of cases relating to women is only 9.4 per cent where as it is only 3.2 per cent in cases relating to Scheduled Castes. In cases relating to Scheduled Tribes, the conviction rate is zero, he said and asked “A government which says we are going to protect women, where is the result.”
Mishra also criticised the Government by not replying to questions under the garb of ‘facts are under collection.’ He referred to a question on the number of vigilance cases filed against IAS, IPS, OAS and other officials in the State for which the reply was ‘facts are being collected.’ “In a democracy, Government should respond to the questions raised by the Opposition, but this Government does not respond,” he said. The CLP leader also alleged that there is rampant corruption at all levels of the government.
His party colleague Taraprasad Bahinipati demanded that allocation for the Home department should be increased. Criticising the Government for promoting liquor and ganja, Bahinipati alleged that youths are becoming wayward because of its consumption leading to increase in crime. Santosh Singh Saluja (Cong) alleged that crime against women is on the rise.