The State Government on Monday shunted the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) Commissioner from his post and placed his deputy under suspension over the looting of relief materials by some ruling BJD corporators.
While a team of Vigilance sleuths led by a DSP began investigating into the scam, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also suspended BJD city president Madhusudan Sahu from the party. Sahu had taken away huge quantities of relief materials and when a hue and cry was made, he returned a part of the looted materials on Saturday. Indications were also available that some more BJD leaders of the city would also come in the firing line as a dozen of party corporators too had looted relief materials on October 13, a day after the cyclone. The Vigilance sleuths raided the CMC office and quizzed the officials responsible for distribution of the relief materials and seized several documents. The Urban Development Department transferred CMC Commissioner Nihar Ranjan Mohapatra from his post and suspended Deputy Commissioner Jaganarayan Kujur. The BJD corporators had on October 13 barged into the CMC office and forcibly taken away huge quantities of relief materials, including rice, dal, cooking oil, potatoes, biscuits and lanterns by threatening the poor Deputy Commissioner.