Odisha CM Dismisses 16 More Tainted Officials

Bhubaneswar: Continuing with the Odisha government’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday dismissed 16 government officials, including five headmasters, four engineers and two Revenue Inspectors, convicted by the vigilance court.

Among those dismissed are Bhubaneswar R & B division executive engineer Jitesh Chandra Rath, Daspalla Rural Works assistant engineer Tirupati Venkanteswar Pani, Kamakhyanagar Block junior engineer Basant Kumar Patra and Minor Irrigation Division junior engineer Prakash Chandra Singh.

The dismissed headmasters are Abhaya Kumar Biswal (Balarampur, Jagatsinghpur), Kaoila Chandra Nayak (Sarangpali Primary School, Mithili block), Prasanna Kumar Patra (Papadahandi PUP School, Nabarangpur), Shreedhar Harijan (TOME School, Papadahandi) and Kanhuchanran Digal (SEC Adari New Primary School in Kotagarh of Kandhamal),

The others are Kodala tehsil Mangulu RI Naik, Salapada Special Land Acquisition Office RI Narahari Ojha, Keonjhar Basudevpur PD (R&R) Amin Sarat Chandra Sethi, Boudh-Puruna Cuttack CHC former pharmacist Santosh Kumar Panda, junior clerk of Icchapur High School Nakula Kumar Khamari, senior Clerk of Harabhanga BEO office in Boudh Birendra Kumar Panda, Panchayat Executive Officer of Nandapur block in Koraput Prashant Chandra Nayak.

In past one month, 21 more officers have face the axe following corruption charges. On August 17, 15 officials were dismissed from service and pension of two others was stopped. Two weeks laters on August 31, six officials were suspended while pension of four others was cancelled.