Odisha officials blamed for change of project lists  

JAGATSINGHPUR: A data entry operator (DEO) was on Thursday suspended by the district Collector for changing the list of projects, submitted by the sarpanchs and panchayat samitis for approval by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik under “Ama Gaon, Ama Bikash” programme.

On July 5, BDO, Tirtol had directed executive officers and sarpanchs to submit the list of projects amounting to `25 lakh. As per the direction, all 28 panchayats of Tirtol block had submitted their project lists to the BDO for approval by the Chief Minister. Interestingly, officials of Tirtol block under pressure from local legislator Rajshree Mallick had allegedly changed the project list of different panchayats. 

This led to a protest by sarpanchs and panchayat samiti members nominated by Congress who threatened to intensify their stir. During investigation, it was found that the project lists of different panchayats were submitted to the State Government by e-mail through the BDO by a data entry operator, identified as Surendra Kumar Sahoo. He had allegedly sent a fresh list of projects for Kanimul panchayat by modifying the one submitted by the sarpanch and panchayat samity member. 

Meanwhile, Collector Yamini Sarangi was informed about Sahoo’s involvement in changing the list. It was found that the data entry operator had sent the fresh list of projects from his personal e-mail address instead of the official one. The Collector then suspended Sahoo.