BHUBANESWAR: Even as the post of chairperson of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) remains vacant after the demise of Subhas Chauhan on May 10, the issue of transferring its headquarters to the region has cropped up again. Headquarters of the WODC is located at Bhubaneswar even 22 years after formation of the council. What has brought the focus back to the headquarters issue is an announcement made by senior ruling BJD leader from Western Odisha and Rural Development Minister Susanta Singh on Friday that a decision will be taken in this regard by the Government soon.
Singh said the headquarters of the WODC will be shifted to Western Odisha soon. Discussion with MLAs of Western Odisha has been completed about the location of the council headquarters, he added. However, several attempts in the past to shift the headquarters to Western Odisha had failed due to lack of consensus among the leaders of the area. While some want it in Sambalpur, others demand it to be located at Balangir, though leaders of other districts do not want the headquarters to be shifted to either of these two places.
Meanwhile, lobbying has started among the Western Odisha leaders for the post of the chairperson. Several senior leaders from the area, including former ministers are in the race. However, sources maintained that the process of selection is yet to be started. The Council established on November 11, 1998, was supposed to bring development in 10 backward Western Odisha districts. The WODC has a budget of `50 crore.