BHUBANESWAR/BALANGIR: The State BJP on Friday condemned the act of Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher (BJD) for forcing a PWD junior engineer to do sit-ups in public and demanded that the legislator be arrested immediately. The saffron party made the demand even as Works Minister Prafulla Mallik said action will be taken on the basis of the inquiry into the incident.
“An inquiry has also been ordered to ascertain the truth behind the allegation of poor standard of road work and action will be taken as per its finding,” Mallik said. Criticising the Chief Minister for his silence over the issue, BJP leader Lekhashree Samantsinghar alleged that there have been several instances in the past when BJD leaders misbehaved with Government officials, but no action has ever been taken against them. Stating that such behaviour by an elected representative is highly undemocratic, the BJP leader said action should also be taken if there has been poor road work.
A case was registered against BJD MLA at Patnagarh police station. Meher, who drew flak after a video showing him forcing the junior engineer to do sit-ups in public went viral, had on Thursday apologised for his action, while claiming that he did it to assuage public anger.
Later on Thursday, the engineer’s wife lodged a police complaint against the MLA, accusing him of publicly humiliating her husband after calling him out of the house on Wednesday. Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Patnagarh Suresh Nayak told this paper that police have registered a case after verification. The case has been registered under different sections of IPC and SC/ST Atrocity Act, he said.
The junior engineer was traced at a place between Kantabanji and Khariar and handed over to his family. Police said he had gone there with friends and was not kidnapped as alleged by his wife. After returning home, the junior engineer claimed that he was forced to do sit-ups by the MLA and an executive engineer had slapped him in presence of the villagers. “The MLA asked my executive engineer to slap me in presence of all. The executive engineer might have slapped to save me from the angry people who complained of poor quality road construction work,” the junior engineer said.
As the victim belonged to a tribal community, Balangir District Adivasi Manch has demanded immediate arrest of the lawmaker. The Diploma Engineers’ Association has also demanded stringent action against the MLA.
In the video, the Patnagarh MLA is seen reprimanding the junior engineer over alleged shoddy road construction work in his constituency in Balangir district and asking him to do 100 sit-ups in the middle of the road. Collector Arindam Dakua has sought a report on the incident.
Day after
Collector seeks report from Patnagarh sub-collector
BJP questions Chief Minister’s silence
Demands action in case of sub-standard road work
Case registered against BJD MLA at Patnagarh police station
Diploma Engineers’ Association demands action against the MLA
Balangir District Adivasi Manch has demanded immediate arrest of MLA