Panels headed by CM fail to meet for years
By Express News Service | Published: 18th December 2017 04:16 AM |
Last Updated: 18th December 2017 07:22 AM | A+A A- |
BHUBANESWAR: Committees of several important organisations and bodies headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have not met for years hampering their functioning. The meeting of State Planning Board, headed by the Chief Minister, was last held 10 years back on October 15, 2007. Former minister Bisnu Charan Das was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Odisha State Planning Board (OSPB) on March 18, 2017. But, the Board has not met for even once after the new Deputy Chairperson took over.
The High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) under the Planning and Coordination department, which is also headed by the Chief Minister, has also not met since 2013. Prior to 2013, the meeting of the HLCA which clears important investment proposals and decides related matters was held in 2009. However, meeting of the HLCA under the Industries department has been held 16 times between 2005 and 2015.
While the number of illiterates in Odisha has crossed one crore as per the last census, the Odisha State Literacy Mission Authority of which the Chief Minister is the Chairperson has not met even once since it was constituted in 2001. The number of non-literate people in Odisha is 1,01,99,532 out of a total population of 4,19,74,218. Of them, 32,72,434 are male and 69,27,098 female. The Mission is also yet to be reconstituted though several members have retired or died.
Similarly, the last meeting of the Odisha State Health Mission, also headed by the Chief Minister, was held on May 19, 2015. The Health Mission has 33 members and is supposed to meet at least once in six months.
Even though employment is a focus area of the State Government, the meeting of the Odisha Employment Mission headed by the Chief Minister has not been held in the last 10 years.
The meetings of the Mission was held way back in 2005 and 2007. Surprisingly, meetings of the Odisha State Council of Science and Technology under the Science and Technology department and Odisha State Sagarmala Committee, both of which are headed by the Chief Minister, have not been held even once.
The state of affairs of these important organisations have come to the fore in written replies from ministers to questions from Dilip Ray (BJP).
