Odisha Congress MLA lashes out at district collector in Zilla Parishad meeting, video goes viral

“Who has given you (referring to the collector) the authority to cut the funds of MLAs? Why are you (the collector) violating the guidelines of the state government? We (the people’s representatives) are answerable to the people,” Saluja, a four-time MLA, can be heard saying in the video.

The Congress legislator said that the district collector had slashed funds from the state share meant for Kantabanji block and diverted it for other works, which is a violation of guidelines. The collector could not be contacted for a comment.

Later, talking to the media outside the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) conference hall, where the meeting was going on, Saluja also accused the district collector of not holding the Zilla Parishad meeting every three months. The last meeting was held in June, he said.

On his allegation of slashing funds, Saluja said that under the Biju Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi (KBK) scheme of the state government, every block in the eight KBK region districts should get a share of Rs 1 crore annually. “The district collector has violated the government guidelines. Though my constituency (Kantabanji) has three blocks, none have received Rs 1 crore grant in 2020-21 and 2021-22. The guidelines said projects worth less than Rs 5 lakh should not be approved under Biju KBK scheme. But the collector grants projects at his whims,” said Saluja.

Funds meant for blocks in Kantabanji constituency are being diverted to other blocks, the Congress MLA alleged. Saluja also said that “excess funds” were being utilised under the high school transformation programme under the state government’s 5T initiative.