BHUBANESWAR: A day after senior BJD leader and former minister Sanjay Das Burma was appointed Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board with Cabinet rank, Opposition BJP and Congress on Monday alleged that the Board has turned into a place for the rehabilitation of ruling party leaders.
Criticising the state government’s ad hocism towards such an important matter, deputy leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Santosh Singh Saluja alleged that the Board has not met for the last 13 years.
“Though the Deputy Chairman of the Board gets a chamber in the state Secretariat, no file reaches his table. Besides, the one appointed to the post knows nothing about the functioning of the Board,” said.
Stating that the Board never meets for any discussion, Saluja said it has turned into a rehabilitation centre for defeated BJD leaders. Alleging that the state government has never given importance to the state Planning Board, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said it has become defunct for the last nine months.
Mohapatra said the Board has not met since 2007 and the tenure of the last vice-chairperson and members has ended in June, 2019.
The Board has no link with state plans, he said and asked why such an important post was vacant for such a long period. However, Planning and Convergence Minister Padmanabha Behera said the government is planning to restructure the Board as per the pattern adopted by NITI Aayog for the formulation of plans.
“We are working on it and the government will soon go for the restructuring of the Board to make it more vibrant,” he said. The state government has appointed senior BJD leaders as chairpersons of the District Planning Committees with the rank of Minister of state.