Jajpur: Amid recent criticism and protests over 5T Secretary VK Pandian’s whirlwind tour of Odisha, a purported video of a panchayat executive officer (PEO) allegedly distributing money to arrange crowd for bureaucrat’s public meeting at Binjharpur in Jajpur district went viral on Friday.
The 5T Secretary visited Binjharpur on August 31.
According to reports, the PEO, identified as Gopal Mohanty, was seen distributing money among local youths on Mallikapur road in Dasarathpur block to garner participants for a motorcycle rally to Baruneswar Ground in Binjharpur, where the meeting was organised. The government employee was allegedly assigned the task by Minister and Binjharpur MLA Pramila Mallik.
The PEO later clarified that he was shot while helping his friends en route to the ‘government programme’ to fill fuel and there was no political motive behind it.
Reacting to the video, Congress spokesperson Padmakar Guru demanded his dismissal from service. “The PEO has violated the norms of a government employee. This is unfortunate. The district collector should dismiss him from service,” he said.
On September 1, Pandian completed tours of all 147 assembly constituencies in the state bringing an end to his six-month-long visit to all the districts amid criticism by opposition parties over huge amount of money and manpower spent on such trips. The 2000-batch IAS officer has been accused of canvassing for the ruling BJD on the pretext of listening to the grievances of the people. The recent viral video has also given credence to their allegation that people were lured to the meeting venues with money.
