The state government on Tuesday assured the Assembly to implement the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 in the state soon and investigate financial irregularities in execution of ‘Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha’ scheme along with rural wage employment under MGNREGA. Replying to a question from Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water minister Rabi Narayan Naik said the PESA Act is implemented in all the states except Odisha and Jharkhand. The state government is committed to implement the Act in the state soon. It will ensure that the rights of sarpanchs to work independently are preserved.
Naik said the Naveen Patnaik-led government gave sarpanchs the power of district collectors during the Covid-19 pandemic but later withdrew it. “The Mohan Majhi government is a people’s government. It will implement PESA Act in toto and delegate all powers to the elected representatives. All the 22 powers enshrined in the Act will be delegated to sarpanchs and gram sabhas will be empowered to take all the decisions,” he said.
Alleging rampant financial irregularities in implementation of ‘Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha’ and MGNREGA, Congress member Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Padma Lochan Panda, Saroj Padhi, Sidhant Mohapatra, Independent legislator Sarada Pradhan and others sought to know from the minister about the action taken against these irregularities.
The minister admitted that job cards under MGNREGA have been issued to well-off people and wages under the scheme are also going to their accounts. As a result, real beneficiaries of the scheme are not getting work. This is the primary reason for increase in bonded labourers in Odisha. The state government is working on it and action will be taken to make Odisha free from bonded labour problem, said Naik.
As some members sought to know the fate of the projects sanctioned under ‘Ama Odisha, Nabin Odisha’, the minister said all the projects will be completed. In some cases, 30 to 40 per cent payment have been done and the rest amount will be released after completion of the projects. The state government has renamed the scheme as Viksit Odisha,Viksit Gaon.