The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has criticised the State Government for the delay in recommending to the Centre for setting up a permanent bench of the High Court in western Odisha districts.
Even though the people of western Odisha are resorting to different types of agitation during the last several years and courts are paralysed every month for three to four days on the issue, the State Government remains a mute spectator, former minister and media cell chairman of the OPCC Narsingh Mishra said. Mishra said the OPCC had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Congress Bhavan here in January, 2012 demanding a permanent bench of the High Court in western Odisha.
The Prime Minister had said let the State Government recommend it to the Centre. The then Union Law Minister V Moily had also assured that the Centre will take steps in this regard after the State Government made a recommendation. The Congress media cell chairman said the people of Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts have decided to boycott the urban local body (ULB) polls after they found that boycott of courts and ceasework movements did not yield any result.
Mishra said the poll boycott decision taken in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts has the support of the local units of all the political parties. He warned that this may spread to other districts also. However, major political parties are yet to announce their stand on the poll boycott.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kalpataru Das, a member of the committee constituted by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to manage the ULB polls, is camping at Jharsuguda for selection of candidates. OPCC president Jaydev Jena also criticised the Government for dilly-dallying the issue and said the Congress cannot go against the demand of the local people.
