BHUBANESWAR: As the BJD confronts an unwanted shadow of corruption with an influential MLA arrested for being involved in a multicrore job scam, Chief Minister and party supremo Naveen Patnaik on Monday sought to reinforce his ‘zero tolerance to corruption’ principles, asking all people’s representatives to submit their property statements every year. All people’s representatives, sarpanchs, block chairpersons, Zilla Parishad presidents and v i c e - p r e s i - dents, MLAs and ministers (including the Chief Minister) will submit property s tatement s every year and they will be put in public domain, Naveen said while addressing the BJD State Council meeting here through videoconference. He stated that the property statements of people’s representatives and government employees will be submitted to the Lokayukta.
“Fight against corruption will help us in our fight against all ills in the society. May it be inequality, poverty or injustice - in fact, all maladies,” the Chief Minister said. Asking party MPs to set an example before the entire country by submitting property statements voluntarily, he said, “Odisha will show the way to other states in this regard.” Government employees starting from those in the entry level up to the Chief Secretary will also file their statements every year, which will be put in public domain, he said and added, Odisha will be the first state to take such steps against corruption.
Stating that Odisha launched a campaign against corruption from the very beginning, Naveen said strong and exemplary action have been taken against the corrupt. He said, so far 91 officials have been dismissed from service for corruption. Pension of several corrupt officials has been a l s o b e e n stopped. The Chief Minister approved a resolution to provide reservation for students from government schools in State medical and engineering colleges.
Referring to another resolution demanding a backward class survey, Naveen said this will be a milestone in ensuring social justice. He also advised that all resolutions adopted at the State Council meeting on women empowerment should be implemented. He said that resolutions which need government intervention for implementation will be sent to the ministers concerned.