Balasore, December 23 (odisha.in) Government officials (not all) who supposed to implement various developmental activities in the state are the main impediments for the land acquisition that occurred just before setting up of a new industry, said Anup Pattanaik, additional DG of police and director vigilance.
Pattanaik was speaking at a workshop on “Industrialisation and Corruption in Orissa” organized by Orissa Civil Liberty Forum (OCLF) in RJ school of management studies at RJ Vidya Vihar on Balasore-Chandipur Road on Friday.
Recalling his experience during his tenure as superintendent of police in Dhenkanal district he described how some officers had encroached the government lands and some others purchased the land belonged to downtrodden in a cheap rate just before the declaration of Nalco project in the district.
“Such officers know where the industries are going to set up well before the locals. As they have access with the revenue officials, they first encroach the local land and then legally take it into their custody tactfully,” the vigilance director said.
“When a project is declared they through the locals suddenly demand high rate of the land value and too insist them to go for agitation thereby lingering the process to get benefit out of that,” he pointed out.
Speaking on corruption, Pattanaik however stated that the countries which were pointing fingers to others too were indulged in corrupt practices a decade ago.
Chief resource person of the workshop Rajya Sabha MP Baijayant Panda discussed how to make Orissa a less-corrupt state. “The corruption will be less only after the development of the State’s infrastructure and implementation of various developmental projects including industries,” he said.
Giving a detailed deliberation on the topic, Chairman of CII (Balasore chapter) and JMD of Balasore Alloys RK Jena justified why there is a need of industries in Orissa. “Industries must be set up in the State and there should be high-scale investment, if Orissa has to grow and develop at per the Other developed states,” he claimed.
Balasore SP YK Jethwa shared his experiences about industrialization and corruption.
While secretary of OCLF Merusagar Samantray presided over the meeting, director of the management institute SK Pani gave the keynote address.
Among others, State coordinators of OCLF Suvendu Parida, Prasant Kumar Jena and zonal coordinator Sunit Puri and Raj Kumar Khandelwal also spoke.
Over two hundred persons including industrialists, government officials and media persons attended the workshop.
Odisha.in