FIR filed against Minister, ex-Minister in Kalahandi

The Pioneer, June 1, 2012
To find out the honesty of BJD leaders of Kalahandi regarding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s letter to the Railway Minister on the issue of location of a railway coach factory in the State, an FIR was lodged at the Town police station here on Wednesday by lawyer and social activist Santosh Kumar Mund against State Minister Puspendra Singh Deo and Odisha TDCC chairman and former Minister Balabhadra Majhi.

The FIR alleged criminal conspiracy on the part of the BJD leaders by forging the original document relating to the Chief Minister’s letter with an intention to mislead the media and the people.

Mund, who is also convener of the Raildaba Pratistha Kriyanusthan Committee, took the step a day after a Press conference was called by Kalahandi Congress MP Bhakta Charan Das on the railway coach factory issue. Das had accused the BJD leaders of forging the document signed by the Chief Minister and circulating its copies to mediapersons at a Press meet on May 6.

Das showed the video footage of Parliament discussions where Railway Minister Mukul Roy had clearly indicated the State Government’s apathy towards Kalahandi on the issue of location of the proposed coach factory in his speech on March 22, 2012.

The FIR said that while presenting the Railway Budget of 2010-11, then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced in the Parliament that a railway wagon factory would be established either in Bhubaneswar or in Kalahandi district, the Odisha Government submitted a proposal to the Railway Minister for establishment of the factory at Sitalapalli of Ganjam district.

Knowing this apathetic attitude of the State Government, the people of Kalahandi raised voice against the Naveen Patnaik Government wearing black badges for seven days under the leadership of the Congress, the FIR pointed out.

The FIR said both the BJD leaders, Singh Deo and Manjhi, who are public servants, claimed at their Press meet that the Chief Minister had written a letter to then Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi dated December 28 last year where the CM had submitted a proposal for two rail wagon factories, one at Sitalapalli of Ganjam and the other at Narla of Kalahandi. But in the original letter such a proposal in favour of Kalahandi was mentioned nowhere by the CM.

Mund alleged that both Puspendra Singh Deo and Balabhadra Majhi in order to mislead and cheat the people conspired together and forged the CM’s original letter after inserting some paragraphs in it and used the concocted letter as genuine knowing very well that it was a forged one and thereby they committed offence and cheated the people as well as the Press.

Mund has demanded that the police inquire into the matter and take legal action against both the leaders in the interest of justice.