Naveen to examine minister's false affidavit issue

Bhubaneswar, Jun 17 (UNI) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said he would examine the alleged false affidavit submitted by State Transport and Commerce Minister Jayanarayan Mishra along with his nomination paper during the 2004 Assembly elections.

Replying to a question of mediapersons on his return from New Delhi, Mr Patnaik said he had arrived from Delhi and would look into the matter.

The affidavit submitted by the BJP Minister has snowballed into a major controversy and a political issue after Sambalpur-based NGO contested that the minister was not a graduate but had furnished in the nomination paper as graduate.

The Sambalpur Sub-Collector and Election Officer Kailash Sahu who probed the issue found the minister not graduate from NAC College, Burla, from where he claimed to have completed his graduation in 1984.

The University authorities also clarified that Mr Mishra had not appreared for degree examination from NAC College, Burla.

Mr Patnaik said Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had appreciated the initiative taken by the state government for the implementation of the NREGS and agreed to the request for the early release of funds for the scheme.

The Union Minister also lauded the state government for signing a MoU with the Postal department for timely payment of salary to wage earners working under the NREGS.

The Chief Minister said the Union Minister also praised the efforts of the state government to recruit two trained mates (Gaon sathi) in each village for supervision of the NREGS work and establishing an intergrated Grievance Redressal system for the NREGS, the PMGSY and drinking water supply scheme.

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