Odisha CM says he had sanction for his private secretary’s ‘controversial’ whirlwind district tours

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday clarified that he had sanction for whirlwind district tours by his private secretary V. K. Pandian, which were intended at speedy grievance redressal.   The four-page-long clarification by the Chief Minister came close on the heels of insistence of BJP MLAs for a discussion on the controversial issue on the second day of the monsoon session of Odisha Legislative Assembly. “Two years of COVID disruption caused dislocation in grievance redressal and I thought of reaching out to the people, by taking the CM Grievance Cell to the doorsteps of the people to cover all blocks and urban local bodies of the State in the shortest period possible,’’ Mr. Patnaik’s clarification said.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday clarified that he had sanction for whirlwind district tours by his private secretary V. K. Pandian, which were intended at speedy grievance redressal.   

The four-page-long clarification by the Chief Minister came close on the heels of insistence of BJP MLAs for a discussion on the controversial issue on the second day of the monsoon session of Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Assembly businesses could not be transacted as BJP members alleged that their request for discussion in shape of an adjournment motion titled, ‘Democratic system has collapsed in the State – who is greater – secretary or Minister’ was not accepted.

“Two years of COVID disruption caused dislocation in grievance redressal and I thought of reaching out to the people, by taking the CM Grievance Cell to the doorsteps of the people to cover all blocks and urban local bodies of the State in the shortest period possible. Chief Minister Grievance Cell is handled by the Chief Minister Office [CMO] and as per my direction, officers from the CMO conduced decentralised grievances cell in all the districts,” Mr. Patnaik said in his clarification.

He said, “this mammoth exercise was carried out in more than 190 locations over a period of six months. Every day three to five venues were covered and in the process 57,442 petitions were collected from the people, and as on date 43,536 petitions have been resolved or disposed of.”

A massive controversy had erupted in the State when Mr. Pandian had started his tour from June second week. Opposition political parties alleged that the bureaucrat’s meetings were of a political nature while MLAs and Ministers were preparing stages for his meeting in their respective constituencies. Mr. Pandian’s tour had “undermined” the authority of the Chief Minister and his Ministers, they alleged.

On the criticism that Mr. Pandian had extensively used helicopters, the Odisha Chief Minister said, “it would have taken one and half years to do the same exercise by road vis a vis by chopper. Everyday conducting three to five meetings in different locations is humanly impossible within a window of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. which is convenient to people.”