This Week Orissa: Abduction hits progress8230;

The back-to-back abductions of a district collector in Chhatisgarh and a BJD MLA in Orissa threaten to run aground all developmental plans in Maoist-dominated areas

Abduction hits progress8230;

The back-to-back abductions of a district collector in Chhatisgarh and a BJD MLA in Orissa threaten to run aground all developmental plans in Maoist-dominated areas. District officials in Orissas Malkangiri,whose collector was abducted last year,have already stopped going into cut-off areas,bringing schemes such as NREGS to a complete halt. The government has issued a set of security guidelines to all collectors and SPs working in such areas. Now with the latest spate of abductions and the government directive,district collectors,sub-collectors,BDOs and tehsildars may spend all their time at headquarters. A collector of a Maoist-dominated district said,As it is were finding it difficult to persuade BDOs and tehsildars to work in affected areas. Now they have an excuse to shirk.

8230;and tourism too

Though he was released by his Maoist captors this month,Italian tour operator Paolo Bosusco rues that his career as a tribal tour operator has gone for a toss. Bosusco has gone back to his hometown in Italy,leaving behind a tourism industry that is struggling to recover. Soon after Bosusco and his countryman Claudio Colangelo had been abducted,several foreigners planning to visit interior Orissa cancelled their trips. Overnight,five-star hotels in Bhubaneswar and cottages in Koraput saw massive cancellations. To make matters worse,the districts of Rayagada and Koraput banned visits by foreign tourists. Orissa already had a low number of foreign tourists before the blow from the latest abduction.

Another jolt to Posco

Posco is still struggling to set up its mega steel plant. In March,the National Green Tribunal suspended its environmental clearance for the project. Now,the Orissa government has started the process of withdrawal of notifications for acquisition of 438 acres of private land in seven villages. Of the 4,004 acres required for the steel project,these 438 acres are private land. The government action follows the recent order of Orissa chief justice V Gopala Gowda,pointing out irregularities in land acquisition and violation of landowners rights. The High Court had directed maintenance of status quo of private land till the disposal of a petition by some villagers.

Translator wanted

The Orissa police lack a lot when it comes to fighting Maoists,and among those deficiencies are the services of a person who can translate the threat letters written in Telugu by Maoists from Andhra Pradesh. This problem came to the fore when Maoists of the Andhra Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee sent a long list of handwritten demands in Telugu to the Orissa government. But as the Orissa police had no one who could translate it into Oriya or English,they sent it to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh. So,at times,newspapers and channels were ready with the translations before the police were.