Blot on Naveen’s ‘Mr Clean’ image

Expressbuzz, Dec 31, 2010
Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR: After sailing smoothly for a decade, the BJD government in the State ran into rough weather, putting to severe test  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s ‘Mr Clean image’ and claims of transparency in governance. While there was no serious political challenge to his authority, Naveen underwent trials and tribulations in other fields. The dream of rapid industrialisation remained a chimera as big-ticket projects like Posco and Vedanta remained non-starters after coming under Central scanner for violations of green laws. The multi-crore mining scam and the large-scale irregularities in the execution of NREGS did no good to the image of Naveen.  The State Government has come under real pressure with the Orissa HC passing  strictures quashing land acquisition for the proposed Rs 15,000-crore Vedanta University project in Puri district, prompting the Opposition to bay for Naveen’s blood. The successful public meeting of the Congress, in a show of unity and strength,  demanding Naveen’s head on the Vedanta issue was a pointer to the opposition building up against the decade-old BJD rule. In the midst of all this, the State Government suffered a body blow when the Supreme Court took a serious view of the alleged diversion of funds and large-scale irregularities in the implementation of NREGS and favoured a CBI probe. The government suffered a severe setback in July when the HC set aside the State Government’s recommendation for prospecting licence on Khandadhar iron ore reserve in favour of Posco-India for its proposed Rs  52,000-crore steel plant near Paradip. There were other stumbling blocks too for the project, the highest FDI in the country. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) took a serious view of the alleged violations of the Forest Rights Act at the project site and stopped work. The Centre appointed two panels -  Saxena and Meena Gupta committees - to inquire into the allegations. The scope of the Gupta panel was later widened to verify whether all statutory rules were complied with during the execution of the project. Both the panels recommended withdrawal of environmental clearance to the project. The MoEF will take a final call on the project by end-January going by remarks of Minister Jairam Ramesh. The steel project for which the State Government signed MoU in June, 2005, faced strong resistance from locals over land acquisition even though a good R&R package was announced for the displaced.  The Centre’s red signal to Vedanta to mine ecologically fragile Niyamgiri  in Kalahandi district for bauxite came as a bolt from the blue for the Naveen Government. As the green concerns heightened across the country, the Centre cancelled the expansion proposal of Vedanta alumina refinery from one million tonne to six million tonne.  The issue was politicised after Nehru-Gandhi scion and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally at Lanjigarh described the rejection of Vedanta’s mining plan as a victory for the tribals and promised to remain their ‘sipahi’ in Delhi. This prompted a nervous BJD to organise a series of anti-UPA rallies.  On the political front, there were embarrassing moments for Naveen, who had won the Assembly elections for the third consecutive term in 2009 with an overwhelming majority.At the fag end of the year, the NCP, a minor ally of the BJD in Orissa, revolted against the ‘Big Brother’ attitude of the regional outfit and announced 'divorce'. Infighting in the BJD often came to the fore with senior leaders, including ministers, openly indulging in slanging matches. What became a matter of hot public discussion was a series of spats between Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout and party’s Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who is considered the CM’s chief political strategist.   Suicide by a large number of farmers embarrassed the government even further. Even as the State Government did not admit to crop loss or loan burden as the cause of suicide, farmers’ agitations build up at different places opposing diversion of river water for industries.   Natural calamities visited the State leaving behind a trail of devastation, the farmers were the worst-hit. As over 90 blocks in 15 districts were hit by drought, paddy crops over more than 8.48 lakh hectares were severely affected. The State Government submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs 1,516.74 crore to deal with drought conditions.   The BJD’s anti-Centre stand got a shot in the arm when the Centre released interim relief to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra affected by the untimely rains overlooking demands of Orissa’s which also bore the brunt.

* Multi-crore mining scam and large-scale irregularities in the execution of NREGS did dent the image of Naveen
* Posco and Vedanta remained non-starters
* Orissa HC quashed land acquisition for Vedanta varsity project
* SC favoured a CBI probe into NREGS irregularities
* The Centre waves red signal to Vedanta for mining in Niyamgiri
* A large number of farmers ended lives embarrassing the Govt
* I will remain your (tribals’) ‘sipahi’ in Delhi : Rahul Gandhi