Action Against 11 Senior OAS Officers Over Corruption Charges

Bhubaneswar: As part of Odisha government's zero tolerance policy towards corruption, action has been taken against as many as 11 senior OAS officers in past three months. While two of them have been dismissed from service, pension and gratuity of nine officers have been discontinued.

The dismissed officials include former Tehsildar of Loisingha Bijayini Biswal, former Block Development Officer (BDO) of Komana block, Pradeep Kumar Behera.

Similarly, pension benefits have been stopped in cases of former Mayurbhanj DCP Bansidhar Nayak, former BDO Ganesh Prasad Nayak, former Tehsildar Santosh Kumar Mohanty, former Puri Tehsildar Pravat Kumar Maharana, former Nuapada BDO Sunil Kumar Sahu, former Balasore Tehsildar Nirakar Parida, officer in-charge of Bargarh Municipality Naveen Seth, former Khandapada BDO Sanatan Sethi and former Regional Transport Officer Purandar Pujari.

As per reports, investigation of corruption cases pending against 73 OAS and senior officials is currently underway. In July 2017, though the then Secretary of Revenue Department Chandrasekhar Kumar asked collectors of 12 districts to submit a report in connection with the cases, no report has been handed over yet.