Officer Raj short-lived, our strength will increase from 9 to 90: Odisha Congress Chief

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], August 19 (ANI): The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak has said that the ‘Officers’ raj’ currently prevailing in the state will no longer continue

He also said that his party’s strength will increase from 9 to 90 in the State.

Taking a dig at the 5T secretary (Odisha Government), the OPCC president said that the officers are ruling the state now but it will no longer continue.

The OPCC chief said this on Friday on the sidelines of a demonstration being staged by the party in front of the Niali block office.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are united. But our party will form the government in the centre and our strength will increase from 9 to 90 in the state,” Pattanayak said.

“Odisha is number one in atrocities against women but Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been keeping mum. He has announced Rs 50 lakh for each panchayat. But the panchayats are yet to receive their share. The blocks are still devoid of cold storage facilities. In his long tenure of 25 years, he could have built cold storage in each of the 314 blocks for the benefit of our farmers. A resolution has been passed to hike the minimum support price (MSP) to Rs 2930 but why he (CM Naveen Patnaik) is not mounting any pressure on the centre in this regard,” Pattanayak added.

“Whenever election approaches, they (the BJD) pass the buck to the centre, saying it is the centre’s negligence. Whenever any election is around the corner, several yojanas like KALIA and PITHA are announced and once the election is over, the yojanas are thrown into the cold storage,” he further said.

The Odisha Congress protests in front of all the 314 block offices across the state, demanding fulfilment of the party’s nine-point charter of demands on Friday and it will continue to create awareness among the people, Pattanayak said.

The grand old party demands the abolition of the corrupt percentage commission (PC) practice prevalent in government projects, uninterrupted power supply, reduction in electricity tariffs, jobs for unemployed youths and abolishment of ‘Katni Chatni’ during paddy procurement.

The party also demanded the regulation of prices of essential commodities, proper prices for farmers’ products and houses to eligible beneficiaries under the PM Awas Yojana.

Cuttack District Congress committee president Manas Ranjan Choudhury protested before the Niali block office and alleged that if the 50 per cent commission system is not stopped they will protest again in block offices.