Kalahandi intelligentsia upset with Cong

The Pioneer, July 20, 2009
PNS | Bhubaneswar

The intelligentsia of Kalahandi is upset with the Congress, although the party achieved overwhelming success in the recent elections to the State Assembly and Lok Sabha.

They are now reminding AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi of his big promise during his last visit to the district, "I am your sepoy (soldier). I have had a family link with Kalahandi, and it is my duty and will be my endeavour to see that the people of the area get their just dues.”

The scion of Gandhi dynasty made the promise during his ‘Discover India’ trip to Kalahandi on March 7 this year. It is a matter of fact since the time of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi that Kalahandi has been closely associated with the Gandhi dynasty. But the district has always been poorly treated by their party in the post-Independence Congress regime, alleges Digambara Patra, a non-resident Oriya (NRO) from Kalahandi, who is leading the intelligentsia of the region who feels that the present UPA Government’s claim to ensure all-round development in the backward and rural pockets of the country is missing in practice in Kalahandi.

Madhusmita Panda, another leading NRO, reels out statistics, saying the Central Government had earlier established a Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) unit and National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) and recently a Central University in Koraput district from public funds. An ordnance factory was also established in Balangir district. Titilagarh- Jharsuguda, Khordha- Balangir, Rayagada-Koraput and Koraput-Visakhapatnam are some of the railway lines approved in the post-Independence Congress regime.

Most unfortunately, not a single railway line was approved in Kalahandi during this period, except the Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh line during the non-Congress Government in 1990-91, she points out.

Even the NH201 passing through Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Koraput districts was approved during the non-Congress rule at the Centre. Both Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh railway line and NH201 projects are now moving sluggishly, says Dr Sanjib Kumar Karmee, who teaches at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. He refers to the public demand since 1988 for establishing a Central University in Kalahandi because it is centrally located among all the KBK districts and has better rail connectivity to most of the major cities of India from Kesinga station. However, the State Government, meanwhile, decided to establish the university at Koraput for political reasons.

In a memorandum to Rahul Gandhi, Patra, Panda and Karmee have urged him to open a branch of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Kalahandi with a medical college attached to it as this backward pocket lacks secondary and tertiary health facilities. For secondary and tertiary health facilities, the people in Kalahandi now depend either on Viskhapatnam, about 400 km, or on Burla (Sambalpur district), about 300 km, away from Kalahandi, they point out.

Besides, Judhistir Patra from Dharamgarh in Kalahandi is worried over the much higher rate of unemployment and home-leaving migrant workers of the district. A recent India Today report suggested that both Kalahandi and Nabarangpur districts are rated among the bottom five constituencies in the socioeconomic/infrastructure development ladder among all constituencies in India, he points out.

The proposed Kantabanji (Balangir district)-Jeypore (Koraput district) line via Nuapada, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur districts and an immediate approval of a high-laying bridge over river Hati on NH201 near Junagarh and improving road conditions of NH201 in Kalahandi, Balangir and Nabarangpur will bring about development in the region, he adds.