Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday gave an assurance to accord district status to Padampur sub-division by December 31, 2023, after meeting members of the action committee led by minister Niranjan Pujari.
“The discussion was fruitful. Since the model code of conduct is in force, the CM cannot make an announcement in this regard. In his capacity as the BJD president, he assured to include it in the party manifesto,” said a member of the committee, spearheading the demand for carving out Padampur district out of Bargarh.
The committee members said that they would call off the agitation once the BJD mentions about the assurance in its election manifesto for the Padampur bypoll.
The demand had gathered steam in the run-up to the bypoll to Padampur assembly constituency, scheduled for December 5, with sit-in dharnas, including one at the sub-collector office and near Paikamal Chhak on Wednesday, and the BJD extended support to it in a bid to retain the seat.
The BJP, which is also supporting this longstanding demand, has dubbed it a false assurance like the one made in the past. “While Bargarh sub-division is an irrigated and developed belt, Padampur sub-division is a drought-prone area. If Padampur is made a district, it would receive better attention from the government. But the government has all along neglected Padampur,” BJP’s Padampur candidate and former MLA Pradip Purohit had said.
This came a day after both BJD and BJP were seen vying to win over farmers in the Padampur fight by rushing to address their issue. The farmers had been protesting over non-payment of crop insurance. While Naveen announced input assistance of about Rs 200 crore for the distressed farmers of drought-affected areas of the state, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar asked the Odisha government to immediately disburse the crop loss compensation to the insured farmers.
Purohit had deferred the filing of the nomination on November 14 expressing solidarity with the farmers.
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