Congress MLA Saluja and collector face off at Zilla Parishad meeting

BALANGIR: The Zilla Parishad meeting at the DRDA conference hall on Thursday witnessed high drama as Congress MLA from Kantabanji Santosh Singh Saluja had a face-off with Balangir collector Chanchal Rana over ‘slashing’ of funds under various government schemes in his constituency.

Accusing the collector of allotting less funds to Kantabanji, Saluja entered into a heated exchange with Rana in the packed meeting hall. “There is a guideline to allocate minimum of Rs 5 lakh for a project under the Biju KBK Yojana. However there are many instances when the administration has sanctioned a paltry sum of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 for projects in Kantabannji. This is a violation of government guidelines,” he said.

Alleging that the collector was acting at the behest of the ruling BJD, he said the funds allotted to the district are not being distributed equally. “A block which falls under my constituency has received less funds as compared to others,” the MLA claimed.

Saluja further alleged that the collector and other district officials slashed block grant for his constituency in 2020-21 and 2021-22. “Who are you (the collector) to cut the funds? You cut our funds and being public representatives, we are answerable to the people of our constituencies. I will not tolerate such partiality of the collector and his subordinate officials,” said a visible angry Saluja.

The senior Congress leader also accused the administration of diverting funds meant for transformation of high schools under the state government’s 5T initiative in the district.The collector reportedly tried to pacify Saluja but to no avail. Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu, who was also present in the meeting, too tried to cool the MLA down.

Addressing mediapersons after the meeting, Saluja alleged that under this government, bureaucrats have become so powerful that they don’t hesitate to disregard public representatives. “The Balangir collector is probably aiming to contest the election on a BJD ticket which is why he is acting in such a manner,” he claimed.