BHUBANESWAR: With the Covid-19 situation rapidly becoming serious in Odisha, the Opposition political parties BJP and Congress on Sunday called upon the BJD Government to involve the political leadership from the state-level to the grassroots in the fight against the pandemic without leaving everything in the hands of the bureaucracy.
They also called for taking the Opposition into confidence so as to ensure combined efforts to deal with the emergent situation more effectively and contain the spread of the deadly virus in the state.
The Opposition alleged, ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, political leaders including the ministers and ruling party legislators are missing in action and they have been kept out from the decision making process. Even decisions regarding a particular district or area are taken without consulting the local
ministers and people’s representatives.
All activities of the ruling BJD were suspended for about three months till Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik convened a virtual meeting of the legislature party in the first week of July to communicate with his own party leaders.
“There was no planning from the beginning. Leaving Ganjam district in the hands of an inexperienced collector where nearly five lakh migrants returned has aggravated the situation,” senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said.
The situation could have been handled in a better manner had the Government put the Covid management of the district in hands of a team of experienced politicians, bureaucrats and experts, he said.
But in Odisha, the Cabinet has become defunct and people’s representatives are non-existent for the last four months.
Had the government taken the local leadership into confidence, the migrant problem could have been managed in a better manner. More than seven lakh migrants returned home, but the Government consulted nobody over such an important issue, he stated.
The senior leader, however, said, “There is still time. The Government should take everybody into confidence and put in place a clear cut plan to tackle the situation. There is no politics here as it is a life and death situation for people.
”Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Narasingh Mishra was also of the same opinion.
“Everybody’s view should be taken into consideration and there should be a combined effort to deal with the situation,” Mishra said and demanded that steps should be taken to convene an Assembly session at the earliest. A meeting of all political parties should be convened to discuss the issue before the session, he said.
“No doubt, bureaucrats are working hard, but they cannot take people into confidence and this is where the role of a people’s representative becomes important,” he said and added that a legislator can have a better communication with the people of his constituency.
Both the political parties alleged that there was much propaganda over delegating collectors’ power to sarpanchs, but the real power remained with the district collectors.BJD leaders did not want to comment on the issue.