BHUBANESWAR: Even as NGOs are in the news for their alleged role in fuelling campaigns against the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu, the latest assessment by the Odisha Government has found that at least 214 of such organisations, operating in the State, have been blacklisted. Funded by the Central and the State government departments as well as other such agencies, most of these blacklisted NGOs as well as voluntary organisations (VOs) are charged with not repaying the loans or with non-submission of accounts. Interestingly, a majority of these ‘untrustworthy’ organisations were operating in coastal Odisha districts, including Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal and Balasore. According to the Women and Child Development Department (W & CD), which has circulated a list of these blacklisted NGOs and VOs among all the departments, most of these organisations have faced action over the last several years. Some have been on the list since mid-nineties while some were added in last couple of years. Of the 214 NGOs, the nodal agency __ Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) __ alone blacklisted close to 40 of them. The Central Social Board, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh as well as W & CD Department of the State Government also acted against the NGOs/VOs. Sources said the organisations though have their field of operation in tribal and backward districts, most of them are headquartered in the coastal districts, Khurda to be particular. Similarly, at least 91 NGOs and VOs have not received further funding in the State. Given complaints against them and issues of non-submission of accounts and flouting the rules, the funding agencies have stopped extending financial help. In this category too, the CAPART has taken most of these organisations to task for their functional issues.
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