Odisha gives compulsory retirement to 5 more corrupt officials

Bhubaneswar: Five more officials in the State Government were given compulsory retirement for corruption and inefficiency, a release from the Chief Minister’s Office stated today.

Taking stringent action for zero corruption in Government machinery, Chief Minister ordered to give compulsory retirement to officials including an engineer and police inspector.

The officials included — Santosh Kumar Das, Assistant Engineer, ITDA, Baripda; Sarala Dei, Community Development Project Officer (CDPO), Balikuda, Jagatsinghpur; Pratima Sahoo, Anganwadi Supervisor, Balikuda, Jagatsinghpur; Rama Chandra Behera, Inspector, Police Training College, Angul and Hrudananda Sahoo, Revenue Supervisor, Keonjhar Sadar Tahasildar office.

Recently, Assistant Engineer Santosh Das was arrested on charges of accumulating assets worth Rs 2.8 crore disproportionate to his known source of income. The Vigilance sleuths had recovered Rs 41.77 lakh cash from his residence during raid. Immovable properties belonging to the corrupt official include a two-storey building at Badagada, one flat at Shailashree Vihar, an under construction building at Kalinga Vihar in Bhubaneswar and three plots in Balasore.

Another official Sarala Dei was sacked from the service after she was caught red handed by vigilance while receiving Rs 20,000 bribe from a complainant. During the investigation, it came to fore that she owns five plots in Bhubaneswar, one plot in Pipili, two plots and one two-storey building in Jagatsinghpur.

Action was taken against Anganwadi Supervisor Pratima Sahoo for corruption. She was caught by the vigilance while taking bribe at office.

Police Inspector Rama Chandra Behera was given compulsory retirement for inefficiency and indiscipline in work.

Similarly, a vigilance case has been filed against Revenue Supervisor Hrudananda Sahoo. He was caught by the anti-corruption sleuths while receiving Rs 20,000.

The necessary action was taken against these officials on basis of feedback from the Mo Sarkar.

With this, 146 officials were given compulsory retirement in Odisha so far.