Odisha takes action against 14 officials

The Odisha government on Tuesday initiated strict action against 14 officials on charges of corruption and inefficiency.

The action was sanctioned by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, an official said. While four government officials were dismissed from service, four others were placed under compulsory retirement and the pension of six more officials was stopped permanently based on the feedback from the state’s flagship 5T initiative and Mo Sarkar programme.

The corrupt officials on whom action has been taken include one superintending engineer, two assistant engineers, one deputy superintendent of police (DSP), one sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), one forest range officer, one tehsildar, one block development officer (BDO), one senior manager, one tax collector, one supply inspector, and three junior engineers, an official said.

With this, the state government as part of its “zero tolerance” policy, has so far taken action against 187 government officials since 2019 on grounds of corruption and inefficiency.