Bhubaneswar: After being trolled in social media for “standing guard” at the Circuit House in Nabarangpur, where secretary 5(T) to chief minister VK Pandian was holding public grievance meeting on Friday, former minister and BJD’s organising secretary Pranab Prakash Das on Saturday said he was ready to be a slave to serve the people of Odisha.
As a counter to stinging criticism in different quarters and the ruckus in the Assembly over “officer raj”, Das came out in defence of his actions at Nabarangpur in a press conference. “I am willing to serve not only as a security guard but also a slave of the people of Odisha. I will work as a labourer of the BJD,” he said.
Terming the criticism as a mediaeval mindset, he said, “Several leaders of my party have said that we are servants of the people. We are here to serve the people. I don’t see anything wrong in my actions.”
Clarifying the incident, he said the chief minister’s office (CMO) had been shifted to the Circuit House at Nabarangpur to listen to the people’s problems and find solutions to those. “Around 2,000 people had enlisted to submit their grievances to the officials. In order to ensure smooth conduct of the meeting, I had stood at the gate and was calling out the people’s names to let them inside to present their problems,” he said.
“During the last panchayat elections, the local people had approached the chief minister with their problems. The chief minister had assured them of looking into the issues. On Friday, we had come to verify whether the problems had been resolved or not. While the people were standing outside, how could I, as their leader, sit inside comfortably?,” he asked.
It may be noted that Pandian, accompanied by senior officers R Vineel Krishna and Roopa Roshan Sahu, held the meeting in the Circuit House on Friday afternoon.
The officials took up around 13o petitions from individuals, groups and communities representing different sections like students, Jati Samaj, SC & ST, religious groups and temple servitors. Besides Nabarangpur district, 400 people in different groups from Koraput district had also turned up at the venue.
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