Bhubaneswar: The greed and hunger for money and power can make a person go against morality and indulge in corrupt practices. It seems to be coming true for the disgraced Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi. Alleged new revelations indicate that his corruption tentacles were flourishing from sand and liquor to illegal stone quarries. As alleged by Sanakhemundi Congress MLA Ramesh Jena, Pradeep has a cordial relationship with some of the mafias involved in illegal stone theft activities.
Ramesh’s allegations regarding Pradeep’s relationship seem to be true as the illegal activities such as stone and morum smuggling from the Bikrampur hills in Karapalli Panchayat of Gopalpur were continuing under the knowhow of Pradeep. These serious allegations need to be investigated at the highest level and the Lokayukata Seems to be the right forum. It has be investigated who the real lease holders are for the minor mineral bearing hill and how much royalty they are paying for the same.
Likewise the demands for investigation into the illegal transportation of stone and morum from Paluru Hill-2 in Rangeilunda block without government approval need to be investigated immediately.
These seem to be nothing but just the tip of the iceberg of the illegal activities that Pradeep is involved in. His clout in Ganjam helped him spread his activities and his relations with local mafia and goons developed with his money power.