Corruption plays havoc on lives of poor tribals

By Prafulla Das

KASHIPUR (Orissa), SEPT. 2. If good intentions and money are the antidotes to poverty and human misery, then tribal-dominated Kashipur block of Orissa's Rayagada district would not have been in the media headlines recently.

This block, where myriads of poor tribals are living since Independence, would have been in a better condition if the Rs. 60-crores Orissa Tribal Development Project (OTDP), specifically meant for Kashipur, was implemented properly.

According to a confidential report submitted to the Government, the OTDP, which was implemented during 1988-1997, had failed to achieve its primary objective because of irregularities on the part of some dishonest bureaucrats and engineers.

Mr. Hrushikesh Panda, who inquired into the working of the OTDP while working as the Deputy Chief Administrator of Special Area Development (KBK), said in his report that the objective of the project was to increase the income levels of the people, particularly tribals.

But the project had only created a large number of contractors ``who made easy money without doing any work because in many cases payment had been made against non-existent work,'' he observed.

``No significant intervention in terms of increase in income levels or sustainable agricultural productivity has been achieved.'' Moreover, in none of the cases, the contractor was a tribal. ``The works have been executed without a tender i.e., the contractors have been hand-picked by the project authorities. They could have at least picked up a few tribals,'' Mr. Panda said.

But Mr. Panda's report, submitted to the Government in September, 1999, was gathering dust for a long time. Only recently the State Government has asked the Vigilance Department to probe into the matter.

Going round the tribal hamlets of Kashipur, one finds that despite implementation of the OTDP and scores of other schemes, misery in the area has only grown worse than ever.

If past experience is any indication, one feels that development in Kashipur can be possible only if the State Government sends self-motivated and honest officers to the area to implement various welfare schemes. The machinery for checking corruption should be activated to the fullest extent to improve the situation.

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