BHAWANIPATNA: The political patronage enjoyed by Gobinda Sahu, the key accused in Mamita Meher's murder, can be gauged from the funds he was able to pool in from different government schemes to Anchalik Mahavidyalaya at Mahaling.
He was one of the members of the general body of the college and could be seen strutting around as a major stakeholder as ministers made their presence felt with religious frequency. While most of the government schools in Kalahandi district and elsewhere are facing precarious financial condition, there was a constant flow of funds to Gobinda's private institution.
Since 2010, Gobinda managed to develop close relationship with leaders of various political parties from Congress to the ruling BJD and influenced them to get all the funding. Gobinda established the college in 2010 with only Plus II courses and degree classes were introduced later.
In 2016, he started the Sunshine English Medium School from the premises of the college. Though details of the government funds made available to Gobinda's institution are not available and officials are tight-lipped on the matter, one can see the financial support received from the signages erected at different places on the college premises.
In 2010-11, Rs 2 lakh was allotted by Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) for construction of library hall. The same year, WODC allotted another Rs 4 lakh for a reading room of the library. Similarly, Rs 2.83 lakh was provided for construction of a hall in the year.
In 2011-12, WODC again allotted Rs 2.40 lakh to the college for construction of a classroom. In 2014-15, Rs 5 lakh was provided for construction of a girls' common room by WODC. In 2017-18, Rs 5 lakh was made available to the institution from MPLAD funds for an additional classroom.
A temple established on its premises too was inaugurated in presence of a senior IAS officer in February this year. There is a foundation stone which was laid by then chairman of WODC Kishore Mohanty for an additional classroom and auditorium. But it is not known how much funds were made available for the projects.
Gobinda's degree college had affiliation till 2014-15 but it was de-affiliated for six years by the Higher Education department after allegation of leak of question papers of Plus II examination surfaced. In 2019-20, the college was made a Plus II examination centre.