Ministers on ‘inauguration’ spree. They are unmindful of what they are unveiling

BERHAMPUR: In the blind rush to inaugurate buildings before the declaration of elections, politicians seem to turn a blind eye to what they are unveiling. Without any flutter they do not mind to unveil an old inauguration plaque not meant for the ceremony. Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Chandrasekhar Sahu inaugurated the trauma care centre in the MKCG medical college campus in the city. It was for sure this inauguration ceremony at Mr. Sahu’s hometown had been planned just a few hours before. The organizers did not get time to get a new granite plaque with names of inaugurator and guests chiselled on it. They used an old granite plaque, which had been prepared for a cancelled inauguration function in the past for the same trauma center.

The granite inauguration plaque, which was unveiled by the Union Minister and before which the Minister performed ritualistic Puja, was the old one. The data chiselled on it had no relation with this inauguration ceremony. As per the plaque, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division, Satyabrata Sahu, and Ganjam District Collector, V.K.Pandian, were present during the inauguration ceremony. But both these top officials were nowhere around this hurried function, which seemed more of a Congress party meeting. There was also mention of BJD MLA of Berhampur, R.C.C.Patnaik, as a guest of honour on the plaque, who surely was not an invitee to this hurried function.

The greatest blunder was that as per the plaque unveiled by Mr. Sahu, the inauguration ceremony was being held on Feb 11, not on Monday. On Feb 11, this trauma centre funded by the Central Government was to be inaugurated by the Union Minister Oscar Fernandes. That ceremony was cancelled as Mr. Fernandes did not turn up. It was quite evident that the name of Mr. Fernandes had been covered up with black colour but there was no time and scope to rectify other errors or to get a new inauguration plaque.

Luckily, Mr. Sahu was to be a guest in the Feb. 11 function and his name was on it. The organizers therefore did not shy off to use the old plaque after covering up the name of Mr. Fernandes. They did not realise that the date and names of other persons on the inauguration plaque were also important. After a few hours of the function a group of men were seen trying hard to cover up and rewrite the inauguration date on the plaque.

The Hindu