DQ row: BDA asks six IAS officers to depose

Bhubaneswar: Tightening the noose on the beneficiaries in the arbitrary allotment of plots and flats under discretionary quota of the state government, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA),  on Monday, has asked six senior IAS officers to depose before it.

The officers are Forest and Environment Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Principal secretary of Water Resources department Pradeep Jena, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Vishal Dev, Principal secretary, Steel and Mines department Raj Kumar Sharma, Prashant Nayak and Satyabrat Sahu.

The notice was sent after the officials failed to respond to a showcause notice issued to them earlier.

Sources said all the officials have been asked to depose on a specific date.

BDA sources said, between 1995 and 2011, a total of 1791 allotments were made under the discretionary quota - out of which 803 were done by BDA, 921 by Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and 67 by Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB).

Among them 54 people were allotted multiple properties. While 18 were allotted more than one property by BDA, 32 were done by CDA. Four others got DQ properties from all three agencies - BDA, CDA and OSHB.

The discretionary quota came under the scanner after the state cabinet on December 18, 2014, decided to review all allotments under it since January 1, 1995, on a case to case basis.