Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Friday gave compulsory retirement to as many as nine more government officials on grounds of corruption and gross inefficiency.
The nine government officials, who have been given compulsory retirement, are from different departments like Mines, Labour, Forest, and Health. While seven of them have been given compulsory retirement for involvement in corruption cases, two officials have been asked to retire from their services on grounds of gross inefficiency.
Deputy Director of Mines, Madan Mohan Biswal has been given compulsory retirement. A total of nine cases filed by the State Vigilance for his involvement in corruption are pending against him.
Mining Officer Ramesh Chandra Mahalik also has been asked to take retirement for his involvement in four corruption cases filed against him by the Vigilance sleuths.
Similarly, Forest Ranger of Muribahal, Prashant Nayak has been given compulsory retirement on the allegation of the disproportionate assets case. The anti-corruption team had unearthed his property to the tune of Rs 1.40 crore after conducting raids on his residence at Hatapada, his farmhouse at Belapadar, and his office at Muribahal recently.
Likewise, Narayan Pradhan, Assistant Engineer of Public Health Department in Sundargarh also has been directed to retire for possessing disproportionate assets. The State Vigilance officials had raided multiple places in connection with the allegation. A total of Rs 2.20 crore properties owned by him were found by the Vigilance. This included four-storied building in Deogarh district and 31 plots in Sambalpur, Angul, Khurda, and Deogarh districts.
Two cases filed by the Vigilance department are also pending against Assistant Conservator of Forest, Laxman Kumar Pradha due to which he has been given the compulsory retirement.
Range Officer Bharat Kumar Ghadei and Rayagada District Labour Officer, Pradip Kumar Bhoi have been given compulsory retirement as three and one cases filled by the Vigilance officials are pending against them respectively.
Apart from them, Joint Labour Commissioner of Bhubaneswar, Sarat Kumar Choudhary, and Divisional Labour Commissioner of Gajapati Namita Dash have been handed out the compulsory retirement on grounds of gross inefficiency.
With these nine public servants, the total number of officials who have been terminated so far on grounds of corruption and gross inefficiency rose to 113.
Ms Kalinga