Another BDO in Odisha in soup for ‘misbehaving’ with migrants

ANGUL: A day after Baliapal BDO stoked controversy by misbehaving with returnees in Mayurbhanj district, a similar incident came to fore at Chhendipada in Angul district on Thursday.

In an audio recording that has gone viral, the BDO of Chhendipada Sunil Kumar Kerketa has been accused of verbally abusing some women migrant labourers when they asked him to send them to quarantine facilities in their blocks.

On Wednesday night, the labourers reached Angul from West Bengal in a bus. While two of them belong to Talcher block, two others are from Banarpal and the fifth woman belongs to Chhendipada block.

The five were taken to Barapada quarantine centre at Chhendipada on Thursday morning. While the local woman agreed to stay in the centre, the rest demanded to be sent to facilities in their blocks.

They called up the BDO and asked him to shift them to quarantine facilities in their own blocks. Irked over their demand, the officer allegedly abused and asked them to either stay or walk back to their blocks. One among them recorded the audio and released it on social media.

The BDO admitted to have used some harsh words against them but alleged that the women misbehaved with staff at the Barapada quarantine centre and indirectly threatened to book them on rape charges.

On Wednesday, Baliapal BDO Chhabirani Sahoo misbehaved with migrants from Surat when the latter demanded water and sought to know about arrangements made for them at the local quarantine centre.

Woman falls at BDO’s feet seeking action on PDS dealer

Accusing the local PDS dealer of misbehavour, a dalit woman of Balibili village fell at the feet of Bari block development officer (BDO) in full public glare seeking justice on Thursday. The incident was captured on camera, video of which went viral on social media.

The victim, identified as Bharati Jena, alleged that she was misbehaved by PDS dealer Anirudha Samal when she objected to the deduction of 5 kg rice from her ration.

Sources said Bharati had gone to collect her free ration for three months which was being disbursed through public distribution system by Samal on Wednesday. She found that the dealer had taken away five kg of rice from her quota.

“When I objected to the deduction from my entitlement, the dealer used expletives and misbehaved with me,” she said. Bharati then decided to bring the incident to BDO Saswat Kumar Jena’s notice. She went to the BDO office and fell at Jena’s feet seeking action against Samal in presence of other officials and general public. BDO Jena assured the victim of action against the dealer concerned. He also asked the marketing inspector of the block to inquire into the allegation.