Congress for review of all MoUs signed by Naveen government

Over 80 industrial houses who signed MoUs with the Orissa government in last nine years envisaging combined investment flow of more than Rs six lakh crore, may be feeling jittery about the prospect of the Congress coming to power in the state after the ensuing assembly polls.

The party, in its manifesto, has declared that it will review all the MoUs signed by the Naveen Patnaik government.

On the mining lease, the manifesto said, steps will be taken to grant mining lease to the government owned organisations like Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and the request of any individual or non-governmental organization will not be entertained in this regard. The priority will be on the effective utilisation of the mineral resources of the state, it said.

Responding to a query as to whether the party, if comes to power, will put a cap on the percentage of resources that an elected government can use, the Union minister Santosh Bagrodia Bagrodia, who released the manifesto, said, in coal sector, the Union government has decided to grant mining leases through the bidding process. However, since all the governments, whether the state or the Centre, are nationalist governments, they will have to take a long term view about the requirement of the industry.

Among other things, the Congress promised to provide rice at Rs 1 per kg and agriculture loans at 2.5 percent interest rate in Orissa. It promised to turn Orissa into financially strong and economically developed state in the country. The party pledged to implement a pension plan for the unmarried, divorced, physically and mentally retarded persons, ex-service personnel and the artists. Every BPL family will be covered under the ‘Swasthya Bima Yojana’ and every village will be provided with pipe water in next 5 years. One legal adviser will be appointed in every Gram Panchayat to render free legal advice to the people. The marginal farmers, disabled farmers and landless agricultural workers will be covered under a ‘Farmers Pension Plan’. All the vacant posts will be filled up and all the registered unemployed persons will be provided with employment. Minimum pay will be fixed for the workers in the un-organised sector.