Odisha Congress Chief Whip In Assembly Taraparsad Bahinipati

17 March , Bhubaneswar

The Opposition Congress MLAs in Odisha Assembly Tuesday drew the attention of Speaker Niranjan Pujari that issues raised by people representatives are being ignored by officiers .

The issue was raised by Congress Chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati during the zero hours. He said, while MLAs are accountable to the people, the officers are used to ignoring them.

He alleged that there is Officer Raj in Odisha and demanded a ruling from Speaker Pujari.

Bahinipati said bureaucrats do not bother to respond to the letters written by MLAs. He was supported by his party colleague Prafulla Majhi who claimed that coordination between officers and the MLAs is most essential for implementation of developmental activities in the district level.

While participating in the debate on the expenditure for the planning and coordination department yesterday, BJP legislature party leader Basant Kumar Panda also made similar allegation.

The ruling BJD members, however, remained silent on the issue.