Odisha govt engineer ‘served urine instead of water’ by Peon, probe on

A disturbing incident has come to light from the Gajapati district, where a peon allegedly gave urine instead of water to an on-duty engineer. The matter is under investigation following a formal police complaint and escalating public outrage, sources said on Thursday.

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According to official sources, in the bizarre and troubling case from the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) office in R. Udayagiri locality of Gajapati district, a newly-posted junior engineer (JE) was allegedly given urine in place of drinking water by a peon. The incident occurred on the night of July 23.

Sachin Gouda, who had joined as an engineer in the local RWSS office on July 22, reportedly asked peon Siba Narayan Nayak for water after dinner. Instead of water, the peon allegedly handed him a steel bottle containing what was later suspected to be urine.

As per an FIR lodged by engineer Gouda, two other employees had also consumed the liquid from the same bottle and raised suspicions about its content. The sample was sent to a local lab, which detected a 2.0 PPM (parts per million) concentration of ammonia, raising suspicion of urine contamination. A second sample has been sent to a lab in Paralakhemundi for more conclusive testing.

Engineer Gouda reportedly fell ill after the incident and is currently undergoing treatment.

A written complaint has been filed at the R. Udayagiri police station, demanding strict action against the accused man. The matter has also been escalated to the Odisha Water Resources Directorate and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

“When I asked for water, a staffer in my office named Siba came to me with ‘water’ in a stainless steel bottle. After consuming the content, I felt uneasy and suspected it to be something else than water (allegedly urine). Two other staff, namely Ghana and Surya, also consumed it to verify whether it was water,” the RWSS official expressed to OTV.

Reacting to this, when contacted, Siba stated, “I had brought the water from Aqua Guard. After bringing food at night for Sir (the engineer), I took the bottle along with the food and kept it there (in the JE’s room). I do not know what happened in between.”

“I have not done anything as is being claimed by the official. I have left everything to God as I am helpless,” accused Siba lamented.