Bhubaneswar: Coming down hard on Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s whip on corrupt commission payment practices (known as percentages or pc) for government works at block level, Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan criticised his comments saying they are just a whitewash and goes on to prove that such illegal practices are existent within the government machinery over the past 17 years of BJD’s rule.
Questioning what took Naveen 17 years to wake up, Dharmendra demanded a white paper on what was the percentage of commission that was being charged/paid and the amount of money that have been collected over the years through such practices.
“Comments on curbing percentage being taken/paid for work orders by CM Naveen who has been in power for the past 17 years and headed many departments, goes on to prove that the practice has been existing since long. I urge the CM to come out with a white paper clarifying what percentages of work orders were bribes, how much of such corrupt commission payments has stopped and how much work orders have been given to contractors without tenders. Making such comments is just a whitewash and publicity stunt,” said Dharmendra.
“It’s very late and the CM has woken up after 17 long years. Prevalence of commissions/percentages are as high as 30-35% at block levels,” said senior Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati.
On the other hand, BJD’s Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda praised such intent by tweeting “Good that corruption is getting targetted. I'd repeatedly pointed out internally. Strong steps needed, not just at dists but much higher up.”