Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Nabarangpur MP, Balabhadra Majhi on Monday launched a scathing attack on Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government over several issues including the alleged muder of a Divyang tribal young woman in Odisha's Rayagada district and dubbed the State Government as “anti-tribal”.

Addressing a press conference here, Majhi said, " It is unfortunate that the State government lost its sensitivity to the killing of Laxmi Majhi, a Divyang tribal young woman, at the ‘Maa Gruha’ (where the deceased was working as a warden) inside Chandrapur CHC Compound in Rayagada district on the night of December 21, 2023."

"Laxmi was allegedly set ablaze by unknown miscreants. An FIR was filed at the Chandrapur police station by her father on December 22 alleging murder. However, the police have not arrested anyone yet in this connection."

"The body of the tribal woman was found only 10 meters away from the ‘Maa Gruha’, only 30 meters away from the residence of the head of the ‘Maa Gruha’ and only 200 meters away from the Chandrapur police station. How a young woman from this area was burnt and no one found her whereabouts is raising a big question," the BJP leader said.

This is not the first instance of anti-tribal tactics by the BJD government and the State administration. The tribal killing policy of this government started from "Kalinga Nagar", he alleged.

" Even though crores of rupees were coming from the mining of the tribal areas, the tribal people did not develop. In mining corruption, "Shah Commission" reported the manipulation of Rs 65,000 crores but the mines owner managed to reduce the amount of corruption to Rs 18, 500 crores at the Supreme Court due to weak policy of the BJD government, " Majhi said.

"Although there was a provision to spend the revenue from mines along with DMF and other CSRs in the tribal areas, the government misused the money and used it for the benifit of the ruling party," he added.

The former MP said that the tribal areas are located in the hills and mountains and even though Tel, Vaskel, Nagavali, Bansadhara, Bubhabalang, Ib, Anga and Indravati rivers flow from these areas, nothing has been done to irrigate the tribal land.

"The 24-year-old Naveen government has not made any arrangements to improve the education of the tribals. For example, there are no degree colleges in 6 blocks of Nabarangpur district. A degree college has been established in Nabarangpur after the Modi government came to power at the Centre," he pointed out.

"Is reservation of only 12 per cent seats in higher education for 23 per cent tribals not anti-tribal? Due to the lack of employment opportunities in the state, the tribal people are forced to go outside the state and work as bonded labourers," he added.

The central government has arranged one medical college for each district, but due to the indifference of the Odisha government to the tribal areas, it has not proposed a medical college in the districts like Nabarangpur, Malkangari, Rayagada, Gajapati. In tribal areas, healthcare facilities have deteriorated; more than half of the doctor posts are vacant and other infrastructure is lacking in these tribal dominant districts.

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Districts like Nabarangpur, Kandhamal and Malkangari have not been able to come on the railway map due to the indifference of the Naveen Patnaik government, Majhi said adding that Jeypore-Nabarangpur and Jeypore-Malkangiri railway projects, which were recognized in 2016, the state government has not given an inch of land. It shows the anti-tribal mentality of the State government, he said.

The BJP leader said that the people of Odisha will give a befitting reply to the anti-tribal and anti-development government in the upcoming days.

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