Rahul's 'Discover India' tour begins

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today arrived in Orissa on a four-day visit marking the beginning of his "Discover India" tour and retracing the footsteps of his illustrious grandmother and father to strike an emotional chord with the impoverished tribals in one of the country's most backward regions "" the KBK area comprising undivided Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi districts, infamous for droughts, malnutrition and starvations deaths. Rahul started his visit from Sinappalli in the poverty stricken Nuapada district.

"Our family has an emotional attachment with Kalahandi, the most backward region of the country," said Rahul.

During his four-day visit, Rahul will visit at least 13 districts, including Ganjam. Interestingly, most of the districts fall in the highly sensitive Maoist-infested areas. Not taking any chances, the Orissa administration has thrown an almost fool-proof security cordon around all the districts that Rahul would be visiting.

Platoons of Orissa State Armed Police (OSAP) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been deployed in these areas as a special measure. Helicopter arrangements have also been made as Rahul would mostly be travelling by air.

Forty years back, Rahul's grandmother, Indira Gandhi first visited Khariar in Kalahandi district to see for herself the plight of the people who were reeling under a severe drought. And two decades back, his father, Rajiv Gandhi, as the then prime minister had flown in to Kalahandi when the reports of starvation deaths and issue of Phanas Punji, who sold her niece for Rs 40, hogged the media light.

But ironically, this area, known as the Ethiopia of south-western Orissa, continues to languish in abject poverty and underdevelopment despite the visit of these high profile leaders and launching of the Centre sponsored "Long Term Action Plan" in late eighties by Rajiv Gandhi.

While addressing a public meeting in Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters of Kalahandi and a neighbouring district of Nuapada, Rahul said: "The country is progressing, but some of the backward areas are lagging behind in progress and they need more attention."

Prior to the meeting, Rahul interacted with the locals, listening to their problems wherever he went. He asked the Sarpanch of the Sinapalli gram panchayat Padu Lohar to jot down their daily difficulties. Lohar requested Rahul to make arrangements for a school in the area.

Rahul also visited a watershed project in the village, which was set up under the Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLP). About 150 people of the village are being benefited from the project. He also interacted with the tribal people of Nabarangapur, another tribal dominated district in the KBK region.

In the next three days, he will be visiting Gunupur in Raygada, Rourkela, Bamada in Sambalpur district and will address another public meeting at Angul. He will also go to Karanjia in Mayurbhanj and address a youth farmers' rally at Berhampur, finally folding up his tour on March 10 after addressing a farmer rally at Panikoili in Jajpur district and a youth rally at Bank in Cuttack.

Interestingly, BJP is also holding a rally on the day of Rahul's visit to Berhampur on March 9. The BJP rally, known as the Sankalpa Samabesh, is scheduled to be addressed by party general secretary Binay Katiar.