Opposition alleges 'Officer Raj' in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Congress MLAs today drew the attention of Speaker to their issues being ignored by people's represntatives.

The issue was raised by Congress Chiefwhip Taraprasad Bahinipati during the zero hours. "When MLAs are accountable to the people, the officers are used to ingnoring us. There is Officer Raj in the state," Bahinipati alleged seeking a ruling from the Speaker.

Stating that officers ignoring people's represntatives was a clear violation of the provisions under Section 47 of the Book Circular, Bahinipati alleged that even bureaucrats do not bother to respond to the letters written by MLAs.

When the MLAs go to District Collectors with problems related to their constituencies like appointment of doctors and teachers in rural areas, the concerned officers do not care for the people's representatives. On the other hand people find fault in the MLA, Bahinipati pointed out.

Bahinipati was supported by his party colleague Prafulla Majhi who claimed that coordination between officers and the MLAs is most essential for implementation of developmental activities in the district level.

"It is unfortunate that there seems to be no coordination between the MLAs and officers in many districts," Majhi pointed out.

While participating in the debate on the expenditure for the planning and coordination department yesterday, BJP legislature party leader Basant Kumar Panda also made similar allegation.

"We the peoples represntatives actually know which scheme needs to be implemnted where. But the officers do not consult us," Panda said.

The treasury bench members, however, remained silent on the issue.