Naveen remains non-responsive to clamour for participation of MLAs, MPs in Covid management

Lawmakers say officers have little understanding of serious situation at grounds

By Nalini Sahu

BHUBANESWAR, JULY 17: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik who has stayed away from attending his office at the state secretariat here since the nationwide lockdown came was declared on March 24 night, continues to manage the ongoing Covid-19 crisis sitting at his residence with a handful of top bureaucrats.

Surprisingly enough, though the Covid situation is steadily assuming serious proportions with the state registering 500 to 700 new positive cases and four to six deaths everyday; the CM has kept his party MLAs and Member of Parliaments (MPs) out of the Covid management exercises.

 Temporary Medical Centres (TMCs) and quarantine facilities, now managed by gram panchayat Sarapanches, have allegedly turned breeding grounds for new Coronavirus infections.

The inadequacy in human resources and lack of guidance at the local levels have led to strong resentment against the ruling BJD. Realising that this resentment might go against them in the future at constituency-level electoral exercises, some of the BJD MLAs Pradeep Panigrahy and Pramila Mallick advocated for participation of the lawmakers, especially the MLAs, in management of quarantine centres and temporary medical centres (TMCs). However, the CM has not yet responded to it.

The absence of lawmakers on the ground, as some MLAs confided, has deprived the state administration of a holistic grasping of the ground realities.

“Quarantine facilities and TMCs are ill-managed and inmates are releasing videos complaining about inattention and neglect by the authorities. People detected with Covid-19 infection are afraid of visiting these places as they lack minimum basic facilities and suffer from mismanagement, largely because of the workload on the local government officials. Besides, the lack of adequate knowledge and understanding of the social issues by the government officials also account for rising resentment,” a BJD MLA of Puri district said.

Two other MLAs said all economic activities in villages have come to a grinding halt and livelihoods have been endangered much because of the improper Covid crisis management by officials sans local people’s representatives.

“The problem is very acute at rural parts where the guest workers who returned from other states, are yet to be rehabilitated and staring at an uncertain future. Apart from Covid-19 healthcare services, the government must consider how economic activities can continue uninterrupted, providing livelihood opportunities to the local people. Unfortunately, the focus has been unidirectional and the CM Mr Patnaik keeps himself cocooned to his residence. The officers, on the other hand, run the show without sharing details about the government’s Covid care services with the media,” said Congress state president Niranjan Patnaik.

Mr Patnaik urged the CM to consult and involve the MLAs and Member of Parliaments in Covid-19 management and restoration of economic activities at local levels