Nuapada: Two Junior Engineers (JE) at Sinapali Block in Nuapada district have been placed under suspension after a purported video showing both of them ostensibly bargaining commission with a local contractor went viral on social media platforms.
The Project Director (PD) of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Nuapada, has informed regarding their suspension.
The video which was shot by the contractor himself showed that Sinapali block JEs- Upendra Tihadi and Narayan Sahoo were demanding the commission from the contractor.
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OTV had exclusively covered the news exposing the sorry state of affair in the tribal-dominated district.
As per reports, two JEs were seen discussing with the contractor regarding the share of the PC of different officials in the block. The meeting of the JEs with the contractor was held at Tihadi’s residence.
As per complaint, a community building was being constructed at Kapasi Dangaripada in Sinapali and work had been assigned to a local contractor named Gopinath Hans. The cost of the project was Rs 5 lakh which was sanctioned from the Western Odisha Development Council.
After completion of the project, both the JEs allegedly called the contractor and handed over a list of officers and their share of commission. During the conversation, Hans had secretly recorded the video capturing the entire goings on. The video had gone viral on internet.
The list of officers which Sahoo handed over to Hans also contains name of the Block Development Officer (BDO).
Following the incident, Nuapada Collector Swadha Dev Singh had assured action against erring officials after investigation.