Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Huge chaos was a witness among the people of Keonjhar after the news was spread that the guidelines of the Supreme Court were neglected and the State Government has taken a loan from the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) where out of 18,000 crores, only 94 crores are left.
On 31st December 2014, the OMBADC was built by the State Government to assure the local development and tribal welfare to secure comprehensive growth and environmental up-gradation of Odisha’s mineral-bearing districts. After that, the people of Keonjhar had aspirations towards their district about the improvement of the infrastructure, promoting human development index, abatement of income inequality, and their livelihood improvement.
MLA Keonjhar cum Chief Whip (BJP) Mohan Charan Majhi has shown distress over the matter and felt slandered of the rights of Keonjhar People along with the other citizens of its recipient. The Supreme Court appointed Justice Anang Kumar Patnaik as the Oversight Authority to see if the robust fund of the OMBADC is adequately used or not.
Kiran Sahu, Former Wing Commander Engineer and president of Keonjhar Civil Society Forum, also stated that the people of Keonjhar district, who had contributed an enormous amount to the OMBADC, had been victimized the most by the OMBADC board at the State level under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary of the State.
He further informed that the State Government has to open one OMBADC block at the district level as per the Supreme Court’s guidelines, but unfortunately, there is no OMBADC block in Keonjhar. But a similar section is working in the Mayurbhanj district. The citizen of Keonjhar is leading a very wretched life due to the non-implementation of many vital projects for their benefits. Even several complaints to the Oversight Authority were made recommending ways to rescue the mining-affected people, but none was considered. Niranjan Patnaik, PCC President, informed that both BJD and BJP had joined hands to survey the interests of the people affected due to mining.
Article Written by Dikhya Mohanty
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