Opposition slams White Paper on law and order

Bhubaneswar: While the White Paper prepared by the Home department, which was tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, painted a rosy picture of the law and order situation in the state, opposition parties alleged that the assessment by the state government is far from the reality.

Terming the White Paper misleading, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said, “The law and order situation in the state has deteriorated and the number of crimes is increasing with each passing day. Most worryingly, incidents of rape have increased in the state.”

“The criminals are not getting punishment for their crimes. This is encouraging them to commit crime again and again,” Mishra added.

Echoing the same allegations, Odisha BJP President Basant Panda said, “If it is called White Paper, then all the crimes happening in the state should get a place in it. The White Paper should present the detailed facts about the criminal activities in the state and the Chief Minister should not use it as a tool to promote himself and his party.”

Refuting all allegations made by the opposition parties, BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said, “The police has managed to arrest dreaded criminals like Ramesh Jena and D-brothers in 2015. The government is also making efforts to bring all the convicts to justice under the judicial process.”

"Compared to other states, the law and order situation in our state is under control and efforts are on to nab the criminals,” Satpathy added.