Bhubaneswar: Senior Odisha government officials have gone on a ‘mass leave’ in several districts of the state to protest an alleged incident of assault on an on-duty colleague.
The stir by Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) and Odisha Revenue Service (ORS) officers has affected work.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo was allegedly dragged from his office in Bhubaneswar and assaulted by a group of miscreants Monday, police said.
The police have so far arrested five persons, including BJP corporator Jeevan Rout, in connection with the assault, a police officer said.
The OAS Association had given a call for a ‘mass leave’ from Tuesday over the incident. However, they postponed it after getting assurance from Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
However, despite their apex body’s decision to defer the ‘mass leave’ agitation, OAS and ORS officers in a majority of the districts, including Cuttack, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Rayagada, Dhenkanal, and Mayurbhanj, went on ‘mass leave’.
Due to the absence of such a large number of field-level and district officers, the government and public service works have almost been paralysed in the state, an officer said.
The officers have demanded the arrest of all remaining persons, including the conspirator, who sent the group of miscreants to assault the OAS officer.
Meanwhile, a meeting was held here at the BMC office to review the security arrangements so that such an incident would not recur in future.
“The security agency engaged by the BMC has been asked to depose before the authority. If needed, we will deploy armed security personnel to guard the office,” BMC Mayor Sulochana Das said.
The CCTV cameras in the BMC office, which were dysfunctional, will be made operational soon. The concerned officers have been issued instructions in this regard, she said.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has called for a meeting to resolve the deadlock in government offices.
PTI
