Amid coronavirus outbreak, Odisha govt relieves 9 IAS officers from COVID-19 duty

Bhubaneswar, June 06: An official has said that Odisha government relieved nine senior IAS officers from COVID-19 duty. The officers have been spared of COVID-19 duty so that they could attend to their original administrative responsibilities.

"Some senior officers engaged in COVID duty have been spared to attend to their original administrative responsibilities. They performed very well under trying circumstances. We thank them for their dedication," Chief Secretary AK Tripathy wrote on his official twitter handle.

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Senior IAS officer and Industry secretary Hemant Sharma, who was supervising in the procurement of essential pharmaceutical goods, PPEs, masks and critical care equipment for COVID-19, has been rescinded since June 1, a notification by the General Administration department said.

Earlier, the state government had shifted senior IAS officer NB Dhal from Health and Family welfare department in middle of the states fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Dhal has been appointed as secretary in Energy department.

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The officers who have been rescinded from COVID duty are: Water Resources secretary Surendra Kumar, Sports secretary VK Dev, Works Secretary Krishna Kumar, director social welfare Aravind Agarwal, Tourism director Sachin Ramchandra Yadav, State Project Director of OSEPA Bhupinder Singh Poonia.

This apart, Labour secretary Anu Garg and Director Sports R Vineel Krishna were also withdrawn from their COVID- 19 duties.

These officers had been entrusted with different responsibilities in COVID management in addition to their departmental duties. The government action in removing Hemant Sharma and rescinding other officers came in the backdrop of a recent controversy when the state government refused to take delivery of PPEs, masks and sanitiser brought in more than 20 trucks which were stranded outside Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) warehouse, about a week ago.