Bolangir MP Sangeeta Singh Deo gets into heated argument with DRDA Project Director

The saga of the face-off between political leaders and government officials continues in Odisha with Bolangir MP Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo becoming the latest politician to come down heavily on a government official on Friday.

Sangeeta Kumari reportedly lost her cool and lashed out at the project director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) over the absence of the Bolangir Collector at Panchayat Sadhan Kendra which was the venue of a meeting to review developmental projects. 

According to sources, every year Disha review meeting is held at the conference hall of DRDA office. This year, venue of meeting was changed to Panchayat Sadhan Kendra at the last moment. When Singh Deo reached the meeting venue, she got annoyed on not finding the District Collector there. She left for Circuit House after shouting on project director Sushant Singh.

Disha meeting is held to review central schemes. As Collector Chanchal Rana was not there to welcome Singh Deo, it angered her, the report said.

Face-offs between bureaucrats and politicians have become common in Bolangir.

Earlier on Thursday uproar ensued at the Belpada block office in Bolangir district after senior BJP leader and former MLA Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo came down heavily on the Block Development Officer (BDO) for alleged unequal distribution and diversion of funds in the block.

Similarly, Congress MLA Santosh Saluja had entered into an argument with district Collector Chanchal Rana in a packed conference hall at the DRDA office in the district while attending the Zilla Parishad meeting on January 12.

In a video, the Congress legislator was seen accusing the Collector of slashing the funds being allocated for various development schemes in different blocks in Kantabanji constituency.

Reported by Ghateswar Mishra, OTV