Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gases Dharmendra Pradhan defied advice of local police administration not to tour Maoist-infested areas and visited encephalitis-affected Palkonda village in Malkangiri district of Odisha on Monday.
Mr Pradhan was leading a BJP team to make on the spot enquiry about outbreak of JE and AES in Malkangiri district. Mr Pradhan is under Z-category security cover and his earlier proposed visit to the district on November 4 had been cancelled for security reasons.
Speaking to The Hindu , Malkangiri Superintendent of Police (SP) Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said on November 12, the administration had provided proposed tour schedule of Mr Pradhan to the district police. “Except Palkonda, we had agreed to allow his visit to all other places. Palkonda, situated at a distance of 25 kilometres from Malkangiri district headquarter is connected by kutcha road, which increases security threats in this Maoist violence prone region. So, as per Z-security protocol we had requested him to keep Palkonda out of his tour schedule,” the SP said.
But Mr Pradhan defied the directive to reach Palkonda. Personnel of Border Security Force (BSF), posted for anti-Maoist operations in the area provided security cover to him during his visit. No State government officials accompanied the minister. At Palkonda, he met Umesh Madhi (10), the class IV student, who had written to PM Narendra Modi seeking his help in eradication JE. He also interacted with localites and enquired about measures being taken to check the disease. The BJP team also visited some other encephalitis-affected villages.
Later Mr Pradhan enquired about treatment of encephalitis-affected children admitted in Malkangiri district headquarter hospital and interacted with social activists of the district.
Later speaking to newsmen, Mr Pradhan expressed his displeasure over denial of provision of security arrangement by the State police. “I will take up this issue with the Union Home Ministry,” he added.
The BJP team will send its report regarding the situation in Malkangiri district Central government.
Mr Pradhan was accompanied by former State BJP president Basanta Panda and former party president K V Singhdeo.
