Opposition calls for Orissa Bandh on Sept 10

--By Sagar Satapathy

The opposition parties are in no mood to let go the opportunity to embarrass the state government over the issues of female foeticide, fake medicine racket, mark sheet scandal and the recent death due to cholera outbreak. They have given a Orissa Bandh call on September 10 to protest against the failure of the BJD-BJP coalition government to address the issues related to public interest.

While the Congress is leading the protest against the Naveen Patnaik government, other parties such as CPI, CPM, OGP (Orissa Gana Parishad) and JMM are supporting the bandh call. although a large scale protest against the government was being planned for the last few weeks, the immediate provocation was attributed to the cholera outbreak in the tribal-dominated districts of Koraput, Rayagada and Kalahandi that claimed about 200 lives so far.

Other issues that are being raked up by the opposition are the shoddy implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), marksheet scandal involving former Education Minister Bishnu Charan Das and the female foeticide that shook the entire nation and the world.