Khordha: Odisha government's ambitious 'Mo Sarkar' initiative that aims at providing effective governance to people has found itself red-faced after senior BJD leader and Convenor of 'Odisha Mo Parivar' Arup Patnaik on Sunday reportedly gave a reality check to the government mechanism in the State.
While addressing a congregation of party workers here on the occasion of BJD's 24th Foundation Day, Patnaik, who is also a retired IPS officer, made some comments, mostly sarcastic, and said that people need to have recommendations to get their work done in a hospital and police station in Odisha.
"Without any recommendation, you might be put behind bars even you have gone for registering an FIR at a police station. Similarly, you go to the hospital to undergo surgery on a leg, but you might get another leg operated if you don't have any recommendation", he said during the party programme.
It's being said, Patnaik incidentally exposed the glaring loopholes in the government mechanism while speaking about government's efforts to open 'Mo Parivar Help Desk' at hospitals across the State.
The remarks of the senior BJD leader have fuelled speculations on alleged medical negligence and police inaction that has come to fore in several occasions. Through his speech, he indirectly gave an indication that people would have to connect to BJD’s ‘Mo Parivar’ programme to avail government benefits.
Patnaik further said that there are no standard healthcare facilities available for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer patients. The treatment of such patients has been done in Tata, he added.
While Patnaik is yet to make any comment before the media in connection with the matter, on the other hand, the statement of the ruling party leader has irked Opposition parties who came down heavily on the BJD government.
BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, "It is very sad that their (BJD) leader has admitted the 'Dalal Raj' in Odisha. Without a middleman, no work can be done in any government office. This is the standard of governance of Naveen Patnaik, which has been admitted by his own party men".
Similarly, former Minister and senior Congress leader Sarat Rout has also slammed such remarks. He said " Arup Patnaik, through his speech, has clearly indicated that those who get connected to BJD's 'Mo Parivar' programme will get all government benefits and others would suffer. Patnaik meant to say that people have to go through BJD party forum to redress their grievances"
In 2019, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had launched 'Mo Sarkar' initiative in a bid to make governance more people-centric. The CM had said that ‘Mo Sarkar’ is an initiative under the 5T model of governance to herald a transformation in government offices. The programme was launched to improve the governance by collecting feedback on behaviour and professionalism of government officers.