Status of RDC Inquiries in Odisha- trend of 15 years

Status of RDC Inquiries in Odisha (from 2000 to 2015)

Whenever any law and order situation occurs or any unlawful event occurs, the State Govt.  orders for RDC enquiry   or Judicial enquiry  into it. Revenue Divisional Commissioner is entrusted to investigate into the matter and submit the report within the stipulated time period fixed by Govt.

RTI Application was submitted to the PIO,  Department of Home, Govt. of Odisha seeking information about status of enquiries conducted by RDC within the period of 2000 to 2015. On dated 23.5.15, the PIO has supplied the following information.

·   Total No. of 27 number of RDC enquiries on different incidents have been ordered   by Nabin Patnaik Govt.  from 2000 to 2015.

·   Information about enquiry Report into Biraja Idol Theft case of Jajpur has not been provided by the PIO, Dept. of Home. It was put here following the information collected earlier.

·   Out of 27 cases, no Action   on RDC Enquiry Report has been taken in 12 cases.

·   RDC Enquiry into violent incidents at village Namatara under Kendrapara district on 8.3.15 is continuing.

Sl.	Name of the enquiry  with incidents	Present position	Follow up action
1	Demolition of Church at Vill- Churchunda of Kodinga  Tahasil, Dist-Nabarangpur	Report received	No Action Taken
2	Inquiry into firing incident at Simulia, Balasore  on 7.2.2002	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
3	Inquiry  on firing  by Guard of WESCO  on V.S.S. Medical College students on 17.7.2002	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
4	Inquiry in Boat Capsize  at river Baitarani, Jajpur district  on 31.8.2002	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
5	Inquiry into murder of Jajati Keshari Sahu by Extremist  in Rayagada district	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
6	Inquiry  in Boat Capsize  at river Upper Kolab Reservior, Koraput on 7.2.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
7	Inquiry on Drown to students of Burla High school  i Mahanadi Syphone  on 10.2.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken
8	Inquiry into alleged  misbehaviour  of Sri sankar Oram, MLA , Raghunathpalli assembly constituency on 4.3.2003	Report received	No Action Taken
9	Inquiry into alleged  police  atrocity  on 4.4.2003 at Bandhalli, chargochhia, Jajpur district	Report received	No Action Taken
10	Inquiry into death of two students  and injury to three other  students  of Saraswati  High School, Deypur  in Kendrapara district on 19.7.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
11	Inquiry into Law and Order Problem Between villagers of Kutharsingh-vrs-Manikpur and Tatadahipali in Ganjam on 28.7.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
12	Inquiry on police firing  during excise raid  at Ratansahi, Mayurbhanj district on 22.8.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
13	Inquiry  into police firing  at Kolabira of district Jharsuguda on 7.12.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
14	Inquiry into incident  of assault on Youth Congress leader , Bhawanipatna on 15.3.2003	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
15	Inquiry into the alleged  misbehaviour  to Rajedra Ram, Advocate , Rairangpur inMayurbhanj district	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
16	Inquiry into the Police firing incident  at ChakradharPur Outpost under Paradeep  P.S. in Jagatsingh Pur  o 29.11.2005	Report received	No action Taken
17	Inquiry into Assault of Smt. Pramila Giri, MLA, Baisingha by some people  on 17.1.2006.	Report received	No Action Taken
18	Inquiry into police firing on 15.2.2006 at village Bhatra, Rairkhol in Sambalpur district.	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
19	Inquiry into police action during the agitational activities of members, OSSTA and Block Grant Secondary Schools Teachers Association on 17.11.2007.	Report received	No Action Taken
20	Inquiry into alleged Gang-rape of a 1st Year M.C.A. student  of Sambalpur  University  on 24.2.2008	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
21	Inquiry into incident  violence  occurred  at Bolangir on 11.2.2009	Report received	No Action Taken
22	Inquiry into  the leakage  of  Toxic Gas in  the water treatment  plant at Sambalpur	Report received	Appropriate follow up action has been taken.
23	Inquiry into Kodala incident  in Ganjam district	Report received	No Action Taken
24	Inquiry into Chadaka festival  of Chandaneswar  in Balasore district	Report received	No Action Taken
25	Inquiry into  the incident  of attack  on Sri Husein Rabi Gandhi in Jajpur	Report received	No Action Taken
26	Inquiry into Idol Theft Case in Girija Temple , Jajpur district.	Report received	No Action Taken
27	Inquiry into violent incident  at village  Namatara  under Rajakanika PS in Kendrapara district	Continuing

Pradip Pradhan,M-9937843482

Date- 30.05.15

Order of the State Government for RDC Enquiry into Land Scam of Satish Gajbhiye, IPS officer – A farce

Order of the State Government for RDC Enquiry into Land Scam of Satish Gajbhiye, IPS officer – A farce   and designed to protect him in the name of enquiry – How?

On 18.8.15, Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha has given order to Revenue Divisional Officer, Central Division to enquire into allegation of land illegally acquired and purchased by controversial IPS officer Satish Gajbhiye, former SP, Kendrapara,  in Gop block of Puri district, whether permission for purchasing land and undertaking fishery cultivation obtained by him etc. The timing of the order for RDC enquiry has created suspicion about the intention of the Govt.  and efficacy of the enquiry. Because, after  expose of  land scam of Satish Gajbhiye  by Civil Society Groups  on 11.8.15 and demand of CBI Inquiry on 12.8.15, the Crime Branch  and State Vigilance leaving no stone unturned  rushed  to the spot  and started enquiry into allegation of land illegally acquired by Sri Gajbhiye  apprehending CBI enquiry  which may open up flood gate of corruption, illegalities  and irregularities  in acquiring land  and involvement of powerful people  in this scam. 

In the meantime, the Crime Branch  and  the State Vigilance  have  already   acquired and seized all the land related documents  of Sri Gajbhiye and his wife Ranjana Gajbhiye  from the Tahasil office, Gop  and Sub-Registrar office, Gop.  The State Vigilance has already interrogated Sri Gajbhiye on the basis of the documents seized by them. Now the only step which is required to be taken  is  to implicate  Sri  Gajbhiye and his wife and lodge  FIR against them .

But, astonishingly, yesterday, Board of Revenue  has ordered for RDC enquiry further  into the allegation   of land scam against Sri Gajbhiye. What was the necessity of such order.  If we look at  the history of enquiry made RDCs in Odisha ( enclosed herewith) , it is used by the Govt.  to  linger enquiry in the name of enquiry to protect the culprits. It is also fact that if RDC produced the report in time,  the State Govt.  put it on table allowing it to gather dust without any action taken report.

Let me cite three examples here.

1.    In the month of March, 2015, there was police firing on the villagers of Namatara  of Kendrapara district who were  opposing liquor business in their village. The firing order was given by same Satish Gabhiye. Hundreds of the people were injured and hospitalised. Many people were implicated with false case and jailed.  After huge public protest against police brutality and demand for action against Satish Gajbhiye, the State Govt. ordered for so-called RDC enquiry to save Satish Gajbhiye. Though five months have passed, RDC has not started the enquiry and never  visited Namatara  village.  Now same RDC has been entrusted to enquire into land scam of Satis Gajbhiye.

2.    In 2003, there was allegation of theft of idol in Biraja Temple located in Jajpur town of Japur district. After huge public protest, the State Govt. ordered for  RDC enquiry and RDC produced the report in 2004. Though 11 years have passed,  the State Govt. has neither put the report in public domain nor   come out with Action Taken Report. Even the RTI query seeking information about the copy of the report was denied by the Law Department.

3.    Hussein Rabi Gandhi, prominent BJD leader was seriously beaten up and attacked  by the miscreants in Jajpur  in 2012. Immediately RDC enquiry was ordered. Sri  Aurobindo Padhi, RDC enquired into it and produced the report timely.  Though 3 years  have passed, the state Govt. has not taken any action to dispense justice to  Sri Hussein Rabi Gandhi.

This is the true character of Nabin Patnaik Government. The people of Odisha should be cautious about nuisance of the Govt. in the name of the enquiry.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date-19.8.15 

Misleading Information with Statistical Jugglery about Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana

Misleading Information with Statistical Jugglery about Biju Pucca Yojana of Govt. of Odisha

On the eve of Independence Day, the State Govt. has released an advertisement to different news papers (published on 15.8.15) highlighting their  success and achievement  in the state. One of the biggest achievements claimed by the State Government is the construction of 5.7 lakh houses under Biju Pucca Yojana which was launched from October, 2014.  It is  not clear from this  claim  that  whether  5.7 lakh  houses  have been completed or  sanctioned  or  under  construction. Few days back on 21.5.15, there was also news   in different leading news paper that 3 lakh houses have been constructed with reference to review meeting by Chief Minister on 20.5.15 regarding progress of Rural Housing Scheme.

 Having  gone through the news about  construction of 3 lakh  houses  under  Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana and out of curiosity  to know  about the authenticity of the statistics  given by Govt., I  filed  an RTI Application dated 31.5.15  to the Dept. of  Panchayat Raj seeking  the following information

a. Total fund sanctioned under Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana by the State Govt and fund released to different districts and amount of Utilization Certification submitted by different districts,

b. Total no. of Houses completed and on-going in different districts,

c. Copy of the proceedings of the review meeting of PD, DRDAs conducted by Chief Minister in May 2015.

In response to RTI Application, the PIO supplied the information on dated 25.7.15 which is as follows.

A.  Total fund sanctioned to different districts for the year 2014-15 is 330.10 crores rupees. The UC has been submitted against utilisation of only 2, 36, 92,000 (Two crores thirty six thousand and ninety two thousand only)  by June 2015. Not single money has been sanctioned under BPGY to any district for the year 2015-16.

B.  On question about  number of house  completed  and  on-going in different district,  the  PIO  without providing the information  advised me  to  visit the website  www.iay.nic.in uder  “AWAASSOFT Reports”.  I browsed this website time and again, but could not get single information about Biju Puca Ghara Yojana.  When it was clicked, I noticed only the information about Indira Awas Yojana.  It is proved  that  as the  information about  completion of  the houses under BPGY  is not available  with Dept. of Panchayat Raj, the PIO     wrote  me  to search the website with malafide intention  to cheat me.

C. The PIO provided the copy of the proceedings of the review meeting held on 20.5.15 at 5.30 PM.

The effort to extract information and to expose trick of deception adopted by Odisha  bureaucracy highlighting the information which are basically false does not end here. I again browsed the website of Panchayat Raj Dept.  to find out the information about BPGY. I got the information uploaded upto January 2015. Under the head “District-wise Physical Progress upto the Month of January’15 “, it was  found that  total number of 71234  houses  under BPGY were under construction. It means there is no completion of  a single  house under the said scheme  in the state  for  the year 2014-15.

So,  it  is concluded  that  the information  about  construction of 5.7 lakh  houses  means  it is under construction and on-going  not completion. Though one year has been completed since launching of the scheme, not a single house has been completed. So it cannot be said as big achievement which has been highlighted in the advertisement published in news paper  on 15.8.15.

The people of Odisha should always remain conscious to examine   whether the information disseminated by Nabin Patnaik Govt. is correct and free from any statistical jugglery.

Let us be sensitised  what is Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana.

Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana is a State plan scheme and is designed to provide new houses to the deserving and genuinely poor rural households not having any pucca house. Objective of the scheme is to convert all kutcha houses into pucca house in rural areas of the state in a fixed time frame in a mission mode approach. A pucca house means that it should be able to withstand normal wear & tear due to usage and natural forces including climatic conditions. This started being implemented full-fledgedly  from October 2014.

Selection of beneficiaries will be done from the list through lottery conducted in a fair and transparent manner. Additional detaited procedure for conduct of lottery may be cornmunicated by Panchayati Raj Department separately. The tottery will be conducted at GP Headquarters. lf for some reason, the lottery cannot be conducted at the GP Headquarters, then it can be conducted at Block Headquarters by the BDO in presence of_E_qp, Assistant Engineer and ABDO/ any Extension officer. For conducting lottery at GP Headquarters, BDO will depute a three member team of officers who will be responsible for conducting it in a fair and transparent manner. The resutt of the tottery will be declared on the same day by the BDO and the final list will be displayed at block and GP offices. Thereafter BDO will issue work order from the selected list.

BPGY (special): The selection. of beneficiaries for BPGY {Special) will be done by a District level Committee (DLC) consisting of the following members:

1. District Collector                                   Chairman
2. Hon'ble MPs of District                         Member
3. Hon'ble MLAs of the District                 Member
4. President Zilla Parishad                       Member
5. PD,DRDA-cum-EO , ZP                       Member Convener

i. The District level Committee will approve the list after which it will be communicated to the BDOs by the District Collector.

 ii. ln case District level Committee fails to approve the list within timeline fixed, the District Collector will approve the same and communicate to the BDOs.

 iii. The final list will be published at the concerned Gram Panchayat/Block headquarters and will also be made available at DRDA website for information of public.
 iv. BDOs will issue work orders from the approved list.

Pradip Pradhan, M-9937843482

Date- 16.8.15 

Raj Bhawan, Odisha- A Sanctuary of Scot-free Sandalwood dacoits

Raj Bhawan, Odisha- A Sanctuary of Scot-free Sandalwood dacoits

On 22.6.15, there was news in different newspaper about incident of felling of Sandal wood trees in the premises of Raj Bhawan, Odisha. Having  gone through the news, I got astonished  how  only Sandal wood ( not any other tree)  is cut  and stolen  in the premises of Raj Bhawan, highly security zone  in the state. Accordingly, to know the fact, I filed RTI Application dated 29.6.15 to the PIO, Office of Governor, Odisha, Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar seeking the following information.

A. Details of   sadal tree ( Chandan tree)  which has been cut  I different times in Raj Bhawan premises  ad steps taken to nab   the thieves  involved in cutting tree.

B. copy of details  of complaints  filed  by the Raj Bhawan  in police station  or  in forest Dept. for equiry into the matter.

C. Details of enquiry conducted by the Police or Forest Dept.  in Sandal wood cutting case  and status of the enquiry.

D. copy of the document in respect of   whether Governor has been informed about Sandal wood theft.

E. Names of the watch man/ security guard  appointed  in the area  when the sandal tree has been cut by  thieves.

On 12.8.15, the PIO supplied the following information.

There are two incidents of felling of Sandal wood trees inside Raj Bhawan premises one on 19.11.11 and other 20.6.15.

1.     First Incident of theft of Sandalwood   on 19.11.11

A.  On 19.11.11, Sri Sarada Prasad Pattnaik, PHD Staff informed to Comptroller, Governor’s Household that three nos. Of Sandal Wood trees aged about 7 to 8 years old were cut in saw and stolen nearer to Deer Park behind Administrative building of Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar.

B.  Then it was informed to Chief Security Officer, Raj Bhawan on same day.

C.   The Inspector-in-Charge, Capital Police Station and DFO, City Forest Division, Ghatikia, Bhubaneswar was intimated by Comptroller, Raj Bhawan about the incident and enquiry sought for.

D.  On 26.11.11, a Joint Enquiry was conducted with the presence of Sri Assem Panda, IIC, Capital Police Station, Ramakanta Nayak, Range Officer, Bhubaneswar, Manoj Kumar Mishra, RI-cum-SO, Raj Bhawan and Sri P.K.Jena, Forester. During equiry it was found that  three nos. Of Sadalwood tree have been cut up by the miscreants on 19.11.11 leaving the cut materials at the stump site.  The all cutting parts of three trees were converted into 30 pieces ₌ 38.750 kg and a UD case was instituted by Forest Officials vide UD Case No. – 13BS of 2011-12.  It was decided to conduct separate investigation by both the police and Forest to apprehend the culprit.  

E.   On 14.9.12,  the Comptroller of Raj Bhawan wrote  a letter  to IIC, Capital Police Station  to appraise progress of investigation  in the matter of illegal  felling  of  3 numbers of Sandalwood trees  in Raj Bhawan Campus for appraisal  of His Excellency.

There is no information about whether IIC, Capital Police Station conducted any enquiry.  Neither is any investigation conducted nor any culprit nabbed. The investigation was completed through letter correspondence. 

2.     Second Incident of theft of Sandal wood  on 20.6.15

A.       Sri Brahma Nanda Chhotaray, the occupant of Quarter No.  D-6 of Raj Bhawan  Staff Colony  has reported  on 21.6.15  that a Sandal Wood  tree has been cut down  from his said quarter premises by somebody with  a sharp cutter .

B.       The Comptroller intimated the matter to the ADC, Governor and Chief Security Officer, Raj Bhawan .

C.       On 22.6.15, the Chief Security Officer wrote a letter to IIC, Capital Police Station   to cause an enquiry into the matter for appropriate action.

D.      A Joint enquiry  was conducted  on 28.6. 15  in the presence of Chief Security Officer, Raj Bhawan, IIC, Capital Police Station, Forest Ranger Officer, City Forest Division, Assistant Commandant of Police , Raj Bhawan,  Assistant Horticulture offier, Raj Bhawan,  Forester Bhubaeswar Section. During enquiry, it was found that  two nos. Of Sandal wood trees , one from Raj Bhawan Staff Colony  and other from Raj Bhawan pump house , near Deer Park  have been cut by miscreants  leaving the cut materials at the stump side , stolen one piece  approximately  4 ft. ( four)  from the Sandal wood tree  at the staff colony, leaving the clump. All the cutting parts of the two trees have been converted to six pieces  ad twigs  with  approximate weight  of 143 kg . Two no. of UD cases were instituted by the Forest Officials Vide Case No.  4 BS of 2015-16 and 5 BS of 2015-16. It was decided to conduct separate investigation by both the police  and forest Dept to apprehend the culprit.

Comments

1.      Interestingly and astonishingly, no further investigation was conducted and no culprit arrested in both the cases.

2.      Both the cases were covered up in the name of so-called joint enquiry. 

3.      The inaction of the investigating officer or administration has encouraged the culprits to cut more number of sandal wood trees.  The Culprit is within the Raj Bhawan not outside of it. It is not so difficult to nab the culprits  who are  within Raj Bhawan Campus.

4.      Sandalwoods are precious and costly in the market.  The thieves keep an eye on it for financial gains. 

5.      There is every possibility that there will be more felling of Sandalwood trees in raj Bhawan  in future  due to police inaction.

6.      If there will be theft in Raj Bhawan in highly security zone and  culprit be scot free, what the police will check theft in less security zone or no security zone in the state.

7.      Failure to nab thieves proves the failure of the police administration or lack of interest to investigate it.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date-16.8.15