Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat set for intense triangular contest. ======================================== An intense triangular contest between the Congress, BJP and BJD is on for the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat. While Congress has announced the name of its present MP Pradeep Majhi, former MP Parsuram Majhi is the BJP candidate and the ruling BJD has named Bala Bhadra Majhi, a former engineer in the railway department, as its candidate for the Nabarangpur constituency. Listing his achievements for which he was hopeful of retaining the seat, the Congress candidate said that during his tenure, the road network had changed for the better in the Maoist-hit Malkangiri district. Five years ago, roads were almost non-existent in Malkangiri and development projects were not reaching the interior pockets. So, on a priority basis, I took up the task of improving the road network in the district and now most of the roads in this district have been developed. Development projects are penetrating into the interior pockets of Malkangiri, which I think is a big achievement, Pradeep said. According to the tribal MP, it was due to his sincere efforts that the district received a special grant of Rs 713 crore, the highest that any district in the country has received in the past five years, for renovating, widening and building roads under the Left-wing affected districts scheme. While work on the Malkangiri-Balimela and Balimela to Chitrakonda roads has been completed, widening of roads between Malkangiri-Motu and Kalimela-Podia is nearing completion. I am glad that during my tenure the major roads of the district have been modernized, he said. Also, the first-timer tribal MP said it was due to his efforts that at least 900 villages of Nabarangpur district had been electrified under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), and that he had been instrumental in establishing a Kendriya Vidyalaya each in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts. While the state government talked a lot on tribal education, its unfortunate there is not a single government degree college either in Malkangiri or Nabarangpur districts where the higher education percentage hovers around four to five per cent, the MP said. Claiming that he has always been with the people of his constituency at their time of need, Pradeep expressed confidence that he would retain the seat. I have worked sincerely for the development of my constituency and I am sure people will vote for me. In the past five years, I have raised at least 1,056 questions related to my constituency and the state whereas my predecessor had not raised a single question during his tenure, he said. However, the saffron partys candidate countered the achievements listed by the Congress MP saying that routine matters had been called personal feats. Construction of roads, schools and electrification of villages are routine works of development and no single person can be credited for this, Parsuram said. According to the BJP candidate, the constituency was grappling with the problems of poor irrigation, low-voltage and absence of rail network and neither the state nor the Centre had done anything about it. Only eight per cent of agricultural land is irrigated in Nabarangpur. A survey of the Nabarangpur-Malkangiri and Nabarangpur-Bhawanipatna railway lines is yet to be conducted. Though the state government had laid the foundation stone for the construction of a sub-station at Dabugaon in Nabarangpur in 2008, the project is yet to take-off, said Parsuram, who was elected from the Nabarangpur LS seat in 1999 and 2004. Riding high on the Modi wave, the 53-year-old BJP candidate is hopeful of snatching the seat from the Congress. People have seen the constituency being neglected for the past five years and now they need a change. Modis affect is felt even in rural areas of the constituency and I am hopeful of snatching the seat from Congress. Avoiding questions on the state governments alleged failure to provide irrigation facility in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts, the BJD candidate said the Naveen Patnaik government had undertaken a lot of development activities for the tribal people and he was hopeful of winning the election. Congress has failed to keep its pre-poll promises made to people of the constituency before the 2009 election. The state government has already announced for a government for the area. Special care of the tribals has been taken by the Naveen Patnaik government and I am hopeful to win the election with a huge margin, he said.NABARANGPUR (ST) Source : (TOI)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 13:18:47 +0000
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