BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday ordered a Crime Branch inquiry into the death of seven elephants due to electrocution on the outskirts of Kamalanga village under Sadar forest range in Dhenkanal district late Friday night even as the blame game between the Forest and Energy departments over the incident continued.
The Chief Minister, who expressed deep concern over the death of the elephants, also directed the officials to take appropriate action in case of any criminal negligence which led to the incident. The elephants, including a tusker and five females, were electrocuted as they came in contact with an 11-KV power line.
Six officials, three each from the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) and Forest department, were suspended and a junior engineer of CESU was dismissed for dereliction of duty which resulted in the death of the jumbos after coming in contact with sagging live wire on Saturday. Additional Director General of Police, Crime Branch, Santosh Upadhyay said a four-member team from the Crime Branch has left for Dhenkanal.
A detailed investigation will be conducted into the incident, he said. The Forest department has lodged an FIR against five CESU officials at Kantabania police station. Meanwhile, the incident has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition political parties with both Congress and BJP accusing the State Government of ‘utter negligence’. Targeting the government, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said earlier too many such incidents have occurred due to lack of coordination between the Forest and Energy departments. “It is a matter of regret that one hand of the State Government is not aware of what the other hand is doing,” Pradhan tweeted.
However, Rajya Sabha member and BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb dismissed Pradhan’s allegations as baseless. Pradhan should be concerned about the ongoing fiasco in the CBI, Deb said and added that a probe has already been ordered into the death of elephants.
Senior BJP leader and former MP Rudra Narayan Pani also hit out at the Government and sought resignation of both forest and energy ministers over the incident. Pani has filed complaint against the Forest Minister Bijoyshree Routray and Energy Minister Sushant Singh and secretaries of both the departments at the Kantabania police station.
Blaming the Energy department for the tragedy, Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray had on Saturday alleged that though CESU had been warned of the matter long ago, no corrective step was taken.