Odisha govt dismisses 6 more officials on graft charges

Bhubaneswar, Nov 4 (IANS) The Odisha government on Monday dismissed six more officials from service and stopped the pension of five others after they were convicted by a vigilance court on corruption charges.The six dismissed officials include Works Department assistant engineer Rabindra Kumar Das of Kudumulugumma block in Malkangiri, Panchayati Raj Department junior engineer Buddhiram Suniani of Dhankuda block in Sambalpur district and progress assistant Suresh Chandra Mishra of Papadahandi block in Nabarangpur district.Forest range officer Hemant Panda of Angul, Works Department assistant executive engineer Prithviraj Lenka, NH Division Berhampur and Water Resources Department assistant engineer Sushil Kumar Seth of Hatadihi block in Keonjhar district are the rest of the officials dismissed.The five government officials whose pension has been stopped, include three Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers -- Bargarh municipality former executive officer Naveen Seth, Khandapara block former BDO Sanatan Sethi, and Koraput fomer RTO Purandar Pujari, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO)The other officials are assistant engineer Niranjan Jena and junior engineer Pitambar Pratihari, the statement added.The Odisha government has dismissed 44 officials for corruption over the last two months, said the statement.
--IANS cd/sdr/rtp