The ‘relief loot’ slur coming against the ruling BJD corporators in the city took a new turn on Thursday when RDC Arabinda Padhee ordered for an inquiry into the allegations brought by the Congress.
The order was made basing on the allegation that some ruling BJD corporators looted relief material procured by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) for distribution among the cyclone-affected people. The RDC, who is now camping in Baleswar district supervising rescue and relief operations in flood-hit north Odisha, said he has ordered his Secretary to conduct the probe and submit a report immediately.
Stringent actions would be taken against the persons found guilty in the alleged nefarious activities, he added. Meanwhile, District Collector Girish SN also asked the CMC authorities to submit a report detailing each recipient and the amount of relief materials they have received, particularly of those items supplied by the district administration.
The district administration had supplied around 200 quintals of rice and other materials to the CMC as relief to be distributed among some 40,000 evacuees. While the CMC had announced to open four free kitchens to provide cooked food to the evacuees for three days, it was not done even for a single day, allege city Congress leaders, adding that some influential BJD corporators had forcibly taken away the relief material from the CMC office.
The Congress on Wednesday had filed a written complaint at the Purighat police station here seeking investigation into the looting incident and action against the accused persons as per law.