Former sarpanch of Dhauli gram panchayat (GP) Rabi Maharana in a letter to Chief Minister’s Private Secretary Karthikeyan Pandian has sought his intervention for action against the Jogan Sahayak of GP for indulging in unethical and unlawful activities in the panchayat office.
Maharana stated that Jogan Sahayak Prakash Chandra Swain along with his associates allegedly consumed alcohol in a sensitive public place like the GP office. Besides, Swain is involved in an atrocity case bearing no 48/ 2017 registered in the Dhauli police station for setting afire the house of a Dalit woman.
He had reported the matter to the Khordha district Collector requesting him to conduct an inquiry to unearth the truth and disengage the person, who had violated the basic fundamental duty of a person engaged in a public office, Maharana said.
Accordingly, an inquiry was conducted by the Bhubaneswar Sub- Collector and an inquiry report was submitted to the Khordha Collector in his letter no 6921 on August 18, 2017. The Sub-Collector in his report stated ,” Since this is a violation of basic fundamental duty of a person engaged in public office and such activity has eroded the image of the GP, necessary action as per law may be taken to avoid such type of incidents in future,”, he stated.
However, despite the Sub-Collector’s findings no action was taken allegedly due to political pressure by the local MlA Ashok Panda to save the scalp of the errant Jogan Sahayak. Besides, the Bhubaneswar ADM, Civil Supply Officer and aforesaid Jogan Sahayak are involved in providing ration card to ineligible beneficiaries in Dhauli GP under the NFSA Act, he stated.
Maharana requested the CM’s Private Secretary for an impartial inquiry and necessary action against the errant officials to protect the interest of the people.