India News | BJP Targets Odisha's 5T Initiative and Its Secretary

Bhubaneswar, Mar 15 (PTI) Continuing its tirade against the Odisha government's 5T initiative, opposition BJP on Wednesday asked whether the 5T secretary is accountable to any democratic system in the state.

The issue was raised by Leader of Opposition Jaynarayan Mishra during Zero Hour and he sought to know whether the 5T initiative and its secretary is accountable to anyone or above all sorts of democratic set up.

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"While legislators, administrators and the judiciary are accountable, is 5T accountable and to whom?" asked Mishra adding: "Is 5T above all?".

Not taking any name, the Leader of Opposition, outside the House said that the 5T secretary is monitoring most of the departments and he is not accountable to none. Is it possible in democracy?

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This was for the third consecutive day that the BJP leader has been targeting the 5T to the prompt response from the ruling BJD.

On day one, government chief whip Prasant Muduli had explained in the House that 5T is not any department, but a vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"If it is a vision and an imaginary thing, let it be limited to the vision only. How is it governing all the departments?," Mishra said.

Responding to Mishra's Wednesday statement, senior BJD member Amar Satpathy hit back saying: "It seems Jayanarayan Mishra is possessed by the 5T ghost. He should be exorcised."

Satpathy also said that the 5T secretary is also the private secretary of the Chief Minister. The Prime Minister's Office is also monitoring the works of several departments. Therefore, the precious time of the Assembly should not be wasted by unnecessarily discussion on the issue.

Earlier on Monday. Mishra had said in the Assembly that: "What is 5T, it is not understandable. Is it a department? If so, where is its office, at Rajiv Bhawan, Lok Seva Bhawan or Kharavela Bhawan? Has the 5T department been created to diminish the authority of other departments."

"If 5T is a department, why no discussions are being held over it in the Assembly. The Odisha government should clarify it," he had demanded.

5T is a governance model in Odisha, based on teamwork, transparency, technology and time leading to transformation. Most of the departments are now covered under the initiative. Chief Minister's private secretary V K Pandian has been functioning as the secretary of 5T initiative under which he has been touring different parts of the state and monitoring transformational activities being carried out by different departments in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)