Angul: Media persons Saturday wore black badges and staged a silent protest outside the collectorate over offering of bribes to them allegedly by NHAI officials during the foundation stone laying ceremony of some infrastructure projects by Union ministers the previous day.
The officials of NHAI allegedly distributed Rs 500 each to journalists in folders in the presence of Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan during the Bhhomi Pujan programme for expansion of Angul-Sambalpur NH-55 at Dussehra ground.
This sparked resentment among the scribes. Later, they submitted a memorandum to ADM Srinivas Behera demanding for a probe into the incident and stringent action against the guilty. Behera assured them of conducting a probe and further action after seeking a report from the NHAI authorities.
The journalists said the incident has tarnished their image and termed it a vain attempt to buy them by NHAI authorities. Meanwhile, two senior NHAI officers started a probe into the incident. They separately called the media persons to works dak bungalow and questioned them in this connection.
Terming the incident unfortunate, an officer said a probe is underway to trace the guilty officials. PNN
