By Our Correspondent
PURI/BHUBANESWAR: The Jagannath Sena, a Puri based outfit led by Priyadarshan Pattnaik on Monday lodged FIR at Sea Beach Police Station, against School & Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and BJD MLA from Satyabadi Umakanta Samantray for attending funeral of party MLA from Pipili , Pradeep Maharathy by violating COVID-19 rules.BJD Minister Dash and MLA Samantray had attended the funeral of Maharathy at Swargadwar cremation ground in Puri, on Sunday despite being tested positive for COVID-19, the Jagannath Sena Convenor Pattnaik said.
“We worked for Lord Jagannath but faced wrath and now everyone is silent,” Pattnaik said. “We had just lighted diyas in front of the Temple but police framed charges against us,” he said adding action against Minister Dash and MLA Samantray. “As everybody knows entry into Swargadwar crematorium is banned due to COVID-19 pandemic, but several ruling party leader and State Government officials attended the funeral of Pradeep Maharathy. How was the duo allowed to participate in the funeral? They may become the superspreaders and account for new infections, Pattnaik told media reporters.
A poor man is not allowed to perform last rites at of his near and dear at Swargadwar during the pandemic, why the same rule is not applicable to the politicians? The funeral of Tirtol MLA Bishnu Charan Das, who was not the resident of Puri district, was held at Swargadwar in July and that had also violated the administration’s rule, he said. He demanded action against both for breaching the COVID-19 rules and putting thousands of lives at risk.
Minister Dash said that he participated in the funeral of Maharathy 21 days after he had tested positive for COVID-19. “I have not violated Government’s COVID-19 rules. My swab samples were collected on September 12 and the report came out positive on September 14. Then, I was admitted to the Ashwini COVID Hospital and was discharged from the hospital on September 21. Again, I had undergone the COVID-19 test on premises of Odisha Assembly on September 27 ahead of the Monsoon session and the test result showed mild infection for the virus. Therefore, I was not permitted to enter into the House. As I had completed 21 days of the first COVID-19 test as per the Government’s COVID-19 rules, I attended the funeral of Pradeep Maharathy,” Dash said in a statement.
