Column: Better Late Than Never

By Ashutosh Mishra

Bhubaneswar: Koraput administration recently organised a mega awareness camp at one of the villages under the disputed Kotia panchayat bordering Andhra Pradesh to inform people about the various social security schemes of the state government. Old age pension was distributed among the eligible beneficiaries and health check-ups were also carried out.

The camp was an attempt by the state administration to inspire confidence among the local people about its ability and willingness to take care of their needs. Such exercises have been necessitated by the growing feeling of alienation among the local people who, faced with consistent neglect by Odisha government, have begun tilting towards Andhra Pradesh. The government of the neighbouring state, too, has been wooing them assiduously.

The truth is people of the 21 disputed villages under Koraput’s Kotia panchayat today have a greater lingual and cultural affinity with Andhra Pradesh than Odisha. They are also reported to be benefitting from the developmental initiatives of the neighbouring state. Andhra Pradesh, which is locked in a dispute with Odisha over the ownership of these villages since 1968, has taken advantage of Naveen Patnaik government’s failure to make its presence felt in the area.

During the last four decades, there has hardly been any effort by the state administration either to understand the problems of local people or to redress them. There has been no effort to take government schemes to them. No attention has even been paid to imparting education to children in Odia language. Consequently, the residents, both children and adults, feel more at home in Telugu. They also find AP officials more caring. A majority of Kotia residents are enrolled as voters both in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and exercise their franchise regularly when elections are held in the neighbouring state.

This is a potentially dangerous situation for the Odisha government even as the border dispute between the two states remains unresolved. Unfortunately, it has taken a long time for our officials to realise that their continued indifference towards the people of Kotia could further deepen their feeling of alienation towards the state government resulting in permanent and irreversible damage.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government cannot afford to take such a risk as the regional party is ideologically committed to protecting the state’s boundaries and safeguarding the interests of Odias anywhere. The government in the past has faced criticism from organisations campaigning for the propagation of Odia language and culture for not doing enough in this regard in the Saraikela-Kharsawan belt of Jharkhand which by a quirk of history had become part of undivided Bihar long ago. Fortunately for Naveen Patnaik, the Jharkhand cabinet in 2011 took a decision to bestow the second official language status on Odia which, it was felt, would help promote the language in the region with which the people of Odisha still share a strong emotional bond.

Odisha government needs to handle the Kotia imbroglio in a much more sensible and sensitive manner. The lessons learnt from Kotia will also be useful in addressing similar issues in other areas where the state is involved in border disputes with its neighbours.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)