Bikash
Choudhury
Odisha strong man, Kalinga Putra and former chief minister
of Odisha late
Sri Biju Patnaik took the initiative to expand the number of
Districts from 13 to 30 during nineteen nineties; with a vision for better administration,
to deal with the regional imbalance in development and also to receive more
funds from the central government for development. Even a partially successful Bandh
for a separate Koshala
State in 10 districts of
western part of Odisha put a question mark on the intent of a great leader like
Biju Babu and actual delivery of justice in administration in the remote areas
of our State including western Odisha. The political agitation for a new State
out of Odisha—howsoever, fragile may be could be a threat to the unity and
integrity of Odisha in the long run; if it were not managed well in advance. Those,
who fight for a separate State Koshala for lack of development and regional
imbalance, may be partially right; in a sense our western districts have not
matched in the development process in comparison to coastal districts of Odisha
in social and economic infrastructure. However, it would be futile to argue
that a smaller State of Koshala
would better manage the process of development and regional imbalance as scores
of smaller States would prove to the contrary. The agitation for Koshala State could also be an emotive ploy by
an ambitious leader to nurse his political ambition on a very divisive issue
that provides instant gratification. To
be fare with the activist pursuing a separate State of Koshala; it is
good to
flag an emotive issue to generate awareness and drawing the attention of
our
political masters at Bhubaneswar; but, division of the State is not the
answer
for delivering faster development in the western part of Odisha;
because, with
each new State we add to our bureaucracy and in case of a small state
the
salary bill alone eats into the revenue leaving a very meager resources
for
development and therefore, the smaller States sink into a debt trap.
Koshala State would be financially unviable,
administratively untenable and therefore, should be dropped altogether.
As
there are scores of other avenues to constructively deal with poor
record of
development in the western parts of the State. Both State & Union
Govt.
have made the first attempt in this direction by locating the IIM at
Sambalpur.
The other important step need to be taken is to bridge the distance
between Western Odisha and Coastal areas & State Capital by
civil aviation as soon as possible. This would remove the sense of
alienation,
facilitate better administration of development with improved mobility
of
bureaucracy and politicians and finally, over a period of time, civil
aviation
connectivity of western Odisha would open up avenues for large scale
&
focused Industrial activity and create opportunity for skilled manpower
and
other resources which are abundantly available locally. Further, it
would be
prudent for both the Govt. and Opposition in the State Assembly jointly
attempt
to address the aspirations and concerns of Western Districts of Odisha
in time
bound manner that would bury the demand for a separate State once and
for all.
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