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Congress out to make illicit ganja plantations a poll issue

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR: Illicit ganja plantation worth Rs. 500 crores unearthed in Kandhamal district in November last year has turned out to be a major issue for the coming panchayat polls in the district.

District Congress president Ajayanti Nayak said that the massive extent of plantations existing in tribal areas hint at the fact that developmental programmes aimed at tribals failed to reach them in the district. Having no other source of livelihood, the gullible tribals were used as pawns by the kingpin behind this illicit narcotic cultivation. "It also speaks of the misuse and non-use of Central funds for poverty alleviation programmes in the district," he said. In the past, Kandhamal district Congress alleged that BJD leaders had links with the illicit plantations that were unearthed in Phiringia block of the district.

BJD's confidence

But district BJD president Radan Nayak exuded confidence that the image of the party chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would to do the magic for them at the hustings. He also hoped that the image of State Minister for Steel and Mines Padmanabh Behera, who hails from the district, would also help them. The BJD and the BJP failed to form an alliance for the elections in Kandhamal. In the last panchayat polls, the BJP failed to win any ZP seat in Kandhamal. Their campaign centres round pro-poor policies of the NDA Government. Its district president Bhagaban Mohanty said people still compared the NDA Government with the UPA, which would tilt the balance their favour. Kandhamal has 18 ZP seats and 153 sarpanches post.

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