Development council for W. Orissa reconstituted

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 25. The Orissa Government on Saturday reconstituted the Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) with a view to expedite the process of development in the western region of the State.

The WODC, which was first constituted during the Chief Ministership of Mr. Giridhar Gamang, was lying defunct after the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power in March last year.

According to official sources, Mr. Ainthu Sahu, a BJD leader and former Minister, has been appointed Chairman of the Council, which has been reconstituted as per a new legislation brought in by the Naveen Patnaik Government.

Two Lok Sabha MPs and 11 MLAs, all belonging to the State's western region, have been made members of the Council. The two MPs are Mr. Prasanna Acharya of the BJD and Mr. B.K. Deo of the BJP.

The MLAs who have been taken as members are Mr. Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, Mr. Jogendra Behera, Mr. Kishore Mohanty, Mr. Kunduru Kushal and Ms. Roshni Singhdeo, all of BJD; Mr. Subas Panigrahi, Mr. Rabi Narayan Nayak, Mr. Dayanidhi Kisan, and Basanta Panda, all of BJP; Mr. Gajadhar Majhi of Congress, and Mr. Pradeep Kumar Amat, Independent.

The Government has also appointed Mr. Dilip Panda, former Works Secretary of the State, as an expert in the Council. Some more experts would be appointed to the Council in due course, sources said.

Interestingly, the BJD-BJP alliance government took more than one year to reconstitute the Council despite demand from various quarters in western Orissa for early reconstitution of the body to ensure implementation of various developmental schemes. The State Government has allocated Rs. 30 crores for WODC in the 2001-2002 Budget.

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Section  : Other States
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