UMERKOTE: It was a celebration of a different sort. Locals of Umerkote were seen distributing sweets and bursting crackers in front of the sub-collector’s office in the town after the Vigilance arrested additional sub-collector of Nabarangpur Prasanta Kumar Rout on charges of corruption.The anti-corruption wing seized over Rs 3 crore cash, five plots including four in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and one ‘benami plot’ at Umerkote from the possession of Rout on Friday.
While many took to bursting crackers shouting slogans, others distributed sweets. “It felt like being liberated from the clutches of Ravana,” a local said. “Rout’s primary job was to swindle money and we are happy that he was caught. We are celebrating it with firecrackers,” said Parsuram Patra, a local resident.Advocate Nagesh Patnaik said Rout amassed huge money in the permission cases under OLR Act and indulged in gross irregularities while granting permission in return of illegal gratification.
Even as the massive cash haul from the additional sub-collector’s possession went viral, locals said Rout handed favours for illegal quarry and mining work for construction of the express highway as part of the Raipur-Visakhapatnam economic corridor under Bharatmala Pariyojana project as a result of which the exchequer lost revenue in the form of royalty.
Sources said three tribal beneficiaries - Sonu Paraja, Kamal Sai Paraja and Raju Paraja of the Surliguda and Kesrabeda villages in Umerkote tehsil were allotted three acre each under Forest Rights Act, 2007 for cultivation. However a private company lured the trio into providing its land for excavation in exchange of receiving Rs 1 lakh and a pond each. The illegal work was carried out with support of Rout. Even when the matter came to the fore, no action was taken against anyone, they added. Besides, truckloads of sands were transported to Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh with Rout’s permission, the locals further alleged.