Nischintakoili, 15th July 2025: The sixth general meeting of the Nischintakoili Panchayat Samiti was held on Friday morning in the block conference hall under the chairmanship of Goli Sethy. During the meeting, Block Development Officer (BDO) Britondu Das coordinated discussions on various state and national-level welfare schemes including Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), social security programs, “Viksit Gaon, Nikshit Odisha Yojana,” agriculture, health, education, the Swachh Bharat Mission, and the block’s annual budgeted action plan. Solutions were proposed for resolving various challenges faced in implementation.
In the final segment of the meeting, protests erupted over the implementation of the Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha Yojana in 17 panchayats of the Mahanga assembly constituency. Many sarpanchs and Samiti members expressed frustration that work orders for these projects were not being issued. Allegations were made that the works were being taken over by supporters of the local MLA rather than being managed through proper Panchayat and Block coordination.
Amid this unrest, sarpanchs from Nataka and Katarapada and Samiti members from Badakshara, Baliajiba, and Nagaspur left their seats and staged a sit-in protest in front of the dais, demanding a resolution. They withdrew only after the BDO promised to resolve the issues within seven days.
Participants also questioned why 14 panchayats under Cuttack Sadar block had received project work orders and even new assignments under the same scheme, while 27 panchayats in Mahanga were still awaiting approvals.
Further dissatisfaction arose because officers from the Agriculture and Education departments did not attend the meeting in person but sent representatives who could not satisfactorily address the public representatives’ queries.
The atmosphere remained tense throughout, with speculation about internal conflicts between the local MLA, block chairperson, and some elected representatives. Due to this tension, two platoons of police were deployed to maintain order during the meeting — an unusual occurrence in the history of the Nischintakoili block.
Block Chairperson Goli Sethy remarked that political bias in the administration is leading to irregularities in developmental work. Several sarpanchs alleged that they are not being informed or involved in government programs being executed in their panchayats.
Present at the meeting were Mahanga MLA Sharada Prasad Pradhan, Cuttack Sadar MLA Prakash Chandra Sethy, Assistant Executive Engineer Nalinikanta Mahapatra, Revenue Officer Damayanti Sandhu, and other departmental officials. During the meeting, GP Executive Officer Manoj Pratihari read out the agenda report, and BDO Ashok Kumar Mahanti delivered the vote of thanks.