Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 13: The secretariat was the hub of unusual activity Monday.
There was lot of consternation when it was learnt that a computer UPS was stolen from the chamber of excise and cooperation minister Damodar Rout, negating the claims of police that there was tight security at the secretariat.
“Everyday caretakers and sweepers are coming to my office to sweep and clean it. If someone has stolen the UPS, what is the point in discussing it?” Rout asked after his personal assistant informed the general administration department about the theft.
There was also a lot of commotion when the locks on the chambers of two Cabinet rank ministers, located on the second floor of the building, were broken open.
“When I came to the Secretariat I the doors were not open and then my senior came to the spot, following which PWD officials broke open the locks,” sweeper Surendra Behera said.
“The same locks are being used for many years. When the assistant caretaker went to open the doors Monday morning, like every other day, the locks did not open even after repeated attempts. Finally, we broke open the defective locks and put new locks in the doors,” said SC Majhi, the caretaker at the secretariat who is in charge of the keys.
These incidents come close on the heels of last week’s episode of a youth entering the secretariat with a knife that he later brandished at a personal secretary in the housing and urban development department. Earlier, in January 2012, the Chief Secretary’s office had received a detonator in a parcel.
