post news network
Angul, July 21: Mediapersons who attended the ground-breaking ceremony of some infrastructure projects here Friday were allegedly offered bribes to ensure coverage. The ceremony was to be attended by Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram. According to sources, mediapersons who were waiting at the venue for coverage of the story, were approached by Dhenkanal divisional site engineer of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Sibendra Singh Parihar. Sibendra reportedly “read out” names of local reporters from a list he had been carrying and then went on to hand each of them a folder. The reporters claimed that the folders contained, in addition to notepads, pens, white envelopes with a five hundred rupee each. The official is said to have told the reporters that he had been acting as directed by his superiors. The mediapersons later handed the person over to Angul police. The police have registered a complaint.