Other States - Orissa

Opposition stages walkout over law and order

BHUBANESWAR: The opposition legislators on Thursday staged a walkout in the State Assembly to express their dissatisfaction over the statement of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue of prevailing law and order situation in the State.

The opposition members had earlier criticised the government for the ‘collapse’ of the law and order machinery, and sought reply from the Chief Minister on measures being taken to cope with the situation.

Raising the issue, senior Congress legislator Narasingha Mishra lambasted the government for its ‘complete failure’ to maintain law and order in Kandhamal district which witnessed widespread anti-Christian violence in the recent past.

Mr. Mishra said the government had failed to protect the life of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati even though the police were informed before he was killed in Kandhamal on August 23.

The government had also badly failed to prevent attacks on members of the minority community and save their houses and religious institutions from being burnt down, Mr. Mishra said. People had to hide in forests as the police failed to provide protection to the people, he added.

The opposition also raised the issue of alleged involvement of some Ministers in sex scandals.

In his statement, Mr. Patnaik said that a series of measures had been taken by the government to improve the security status of the State.

A massive recruitment drive had been undertaken to fill up 2,075 vacancies in the civil police and 541 vacancies in the rank of Sepoy in Orissa State Armed Police.

The government had also created 878 additional posts for the Special Operation Group of the State police, he said, while adding that measures were also being taken to fortify the police stations and district armouries.

As regards the India Reserve Battalions, the Chief Minister said that out of the five IRBs sanctioned for the State, one was fully functional, two more had been raised and were under training, and recruitment for the remaining two was going on.

Mr. Patnaik further informed that it had been decided to locate one COBRA battalion of Central Reserve Police Force in Koraput district for anti-naxal operations.

The State government was in the process of alienating land for the establishment of the battalion, he said.

Further, 2,100 tribal youths were being appointed as Special Police Officers in the naxal affected districts namely Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal, Mr. Patnaik said.

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