Egg attack on CM: Odisha police body resents action against officers

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 25:

The Odisha Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) has expressed resentment over the suspension of an ACP and an SI for alleged ‘dereliction of duty’ during the incident of egg throwing on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s cavalcade on February 19.

While condemning the hurling of eggs by members of Youth and Students’ Congress on the Chief Minister’s motorcade and demanding strong action against the perpetrators, the OPOA, in its first official reaction to the incident, has called disciplinary action taken against ACP and officer in-charge of Kharavela Nagar police station Sheikh Sarifuddin who was on  duty  in that place as ‘improper’.

The Association said that DSP level officers are being burdened with more and more workload with every passing day adding that they are often assigned to do work of their subordinates. Apart from performing their supervisory roles, these officers also work as field staff, but get very little succour by way of leave and other facilities, the Association pointed out.

In its reaction on the February 19 incident, the Association alleged that the concerned ACP was intimated about the likely occurrence of the incident at the very last minute. The additional one section of police force that the officer had asked for arrived at the eleventh hour, leaving him very little option but to handle the situation with the handful of policemen he had at his disposal. Had the additional police force arrived in time, the situation could have been better managed and the incident could have been averted, the Association stated.

Meanwhile, Kharvela Nagar police has on Sunday arrested three more members of the Youth Congress in connection with the incident of egg hurling at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s motorcade. The three have been sent to Jharpada jail after their bail pleas were rejected by a local court.

They have been identified as Pintu Baral (24) of Samantarapur area, Damodar Barik (25) of Tangi and Sheikh Motiullah (23) of Jharpada village. With Sunday’s arrest, police have arrested 15 persons so far in the incident. Raids are being condcuted at different places to nab others involved in the incident, commissionerate police sources said.