MALKANGIRI: The Odisha Government must follow the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Area (PESA) Act and the decision of the Palli Sabha regarding setting up of any industry in the scheduled area should be final, said Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh. He was speaking to PRI representatives on the premises of Kendriya Vidyalaya here during his visit to the district on Monday.Expressing dissatisfaction over implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Ramesh said the State Government could spend only 35 per cent of the sanctioned funds for the district in the last three years. Admitting non-availability of contractors to execute the work, he said the onus is now on the gram panchayats to find men to carry out the road construction work under PMGSY.Every village with a population of 250 or less would be provided pucca (tar) road and all the 2,800 beneficiaries under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) would be provided houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) after his Ministry gets due proposal from the collector, he said. There would be no dearth of funds for implementing various programmes in the backward tribal-dominated district, he added.Blaming both the State and Union governments for non-electrification of many villages in the district despite the fact that Balimela power house here supplies electricity to the rest of the State, he said every family should be given power connection. Taking the State Government to task for the delay in the construction of Gurupriya bridge over the Janbai river in the cut-off region, Ramesh said the foundation stone for the bridge was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik 12 years back and J B Pattnaik before that. “When we can successfully test-fire Agni missile, it is quite shameful for us not to undertake the construction of only 1 km stretch of a bridge,” he said.The Left Wing extremism can be tackled effectively if all political parties work in unison, he said exhorting the youth to join politics. The Centre is concerned about the alarming rise in Maoist activities in Malkangiri, neighbouring Sukma in Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra in the last 10 years, he added.JANBAI VISIT CANCELLED: Following Sunday evening attack on the SOG commandos by Maoists, the Union Minister had to cancel his scheduled visit to Janbai and Sikhpalli, about 15 km from here. Ramesh accompanied by his private secretary R. Vineel Krishna, Panchayati Raj Principal Secretary P K Jena, Rural Development Principal Secretary S N Tripathy arrived at the BSF camp helipad at 12 pm instead and rushed straight to MV-4 to visit the mango plantation under MGNREGS. Collector Balwant Singh, Nabarangpur MP Pradeep Majhi, Malkangiri MLA Mukund Sodi and ZP president Padmini Muduli were present. Later, Ramesh held discussions with the Collector and other district-level officials at the DRDA Conference Hall. He also reviewed NREGS works at the circuit house in the evening.
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