Orissa Cong demands special relief package for riot-hit Kandhamal

Bhubaneswar, Sep 9 (UNI) The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has demanded a special relief and rehabilitation package for the riot-hit victims of Kandhamal in the state.

The state executive of the OPCC, which met at Baragarh in Western Orissa yesterday, passed a political resolution asking the state government to immediately declare a special relief package and an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those killed in the communal violence.

Stating that the state government had failed to provide relief to the affected people, the OPCC demanded that the state government should allow social organisations and political parties to provide relief to the people by organising relief camps.

Urging Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to step down from his office for having failed to protect the life and property of the people in the state, the Congress also demanded a CBI inquiry into the assassination of Swami Laxmananada Saraswati and his disciples as well as the incidents that followed after the killing of the Swamiji.

The resolution alleged that there had been a deep-rooted conspiracy by the communal forces with the active support of the ruling Biju Janata Dal.

''The Naveen Patnaik government has failed to govern Orissa in accordance with the Constitution of India, leading to a Constitutional breakdown in the state,'' the Congress stated.

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