By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Soon after Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo was attacked by some BJP workers at his office , both IAS and OAS Association along with ORS Association stepped in , brutally attacked BJP Government led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Situation was made so worse that a senior BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan, one BJP Corporator Jeevan Rout, BJP Bhubaneswar District Vice President Rashmi Mohapatra were arrested and later released on bail.
Reacting to the attack on Pro Naveen Patnaik and pro BJD OAS Officer Ratnakar Sahoo, 2015 batch IAS officer Amrit Ruturaj , who days back posted as Khurda Collector by CM Majhi, wrote like this “ The dastardly attack on a senior Govt official(Mr Ratnakar Sahoo, Addl Commissioner BMC, previously working as CDO Kandhamal Ratnakar Sahoo ) in BMC is shocking, horrific and beyond comprehension,” .
He went on to added “ Every public servant deserves a dignified and safe working environment to render service to the citizens. This is not about a BMC official or an OAS officer but a Govt officer who has been treated with such brutality.All the perpetrators should be brought to justice and everyone should stand united in preventing such kind of inhuman behaviour against our fellow public servants.Staying silent to one injustice may bring a future injustice to your doorstep too. Let’s be unequivocal in condemning this act in the strictest possible terms,”. This statement itself went directly against State Government and as well as BJP along with State Police but CMO , posted this IAS Officer, as Khurda Collector.
Senior OAS Ravindra Kumar Sethi, husband of former Jajpur MP Sharmistha Sethi, who instigated the OAS Association against Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had been posted as KBK Joint Administrator in Koraput. Sethi was earlier served as General Manager in Odisha Forest Development Corporation, also an important post.
Sources said, there were repeated allegations and reports in the media about the husband of former Jajpur MP, Sarmistha Sethi, Rabindra Sethi being openly involved in party affairs during the BJD regime. However, after the fall of the BJD government, Mr. Sethi was appointed as the General Manager of the Odisha Forest Development Corporation. But due to his BJD affiliation, it has been reported that many complaints reached the government that he often went to Naveen’s residence in the evening and worked for the BJD.
According to sources, the government has received evidence that Mr. Sethi spends most of his evenings at Naveen’s residence. Some party leaders have also alleged that he was working for the BJD from Naveen’s residence as a shadow private secretary. Questions have also been raised about how Mr. Sethi regularly visited the residence of opposition party leaders while on duty. However, the state government was angered when it was alleged that Mr. Sethi played a key role in complicating the OAS Sangh agitation in the BMC Additional Commissioner’s assault incident.
Meanwhile, service extension of Vigilance arrested, Vigilance scanner officers also a regular trend in BJP Government in Odisha. Sources said, these appointments and service extension does not possible without big monetary deals at top levels. Some officers increment were held up during BJD for Vigilance cases but BJP Government now clearing their files while pressure is being mounted on Vigilance to drop some cases against few selected officers, so that they could eligible for service extension.
