text: Complaints Lodged Against Ex-Odisha CM Patnaik for ‘Criminal Conspiracy,’ ‘Cheating
  Bhubaneswar: Odisha Contractors Association (OCA) has lodged a complaint against Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and seven others at the Mancheswar Police station in Bhubaneswar accusing them of “criminal conspiracy” and “cheating.”
  The association has also lodged a first information report (FIR) against six BJD leaders- Niranjan Pujari, Prafulla Mallik, Pratap Jena, Sudam Marndi, Susanta Singh, Raghunandan Das and principal secretary of the works department Vir Vikram Yadav.
  In its complaint, the association has alleged that its members had staged a demonstration in 2019 over a 10-point charter of demands. The then Odisha government had then formed a committee and assured to fulfill the demands of the association. Based on the assurances by the former Odisha CM, the association subsequently called off their agitation on November 17, 2019. However, the demands of the association were not fulfilled in the subsequent four years.
  “The state government committee blatantly cheated Odisha contractors with malafide intention to deceive and cheat them. Ex-Chief Minister and ex-ministers were indulged in a criminal conspiracy and gave false assurance to fulfill the demands of the association, thereby committing criminal breach of trust and causing irreparable loss to the association and its members,” the association alleged in its complaint.
  Nearly 15000 members of the association had staged a demonstration in 2019, but so far, the demands have not been fulfilled, claimed a contractor.
  “We wanted all works in Odisha to be given to local contractors besides other demands. Despite repeated demands, no step was taken by the previous government, ex-CM, ex-BJD ministers and principal secretary of the works department,” alleged a contractor.
  “Due to some rules, we are not getting contracts at the right price. We want implementation of schedule rate so that all contractors can get work,” said another member.
  There were no reactions from LoP Naveen Patnaik and other BJD leaders or Vir Vikram Yadav over the allegations of the contractors.