BHUBANESWAR: With Opposition sharpening its knives ahead of State Assembly’s budget session, Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick on Saturday resigned to bail the Naveen Patnaik-led Government out of the multi-crore scam in ‘dal’ procurement for its feeding programmes.
The State Government, on its part, swung into action against three top officers __ two collectors and an RDC __ implicated by State Vigilance, which had raided four districts.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Pramila’s resignation has been sent to the Governor while action is being initiated against former collectors of Deogarh and Mayurbhanj. Similarly, Collector of Balasore has been been shifted.
Former Collector of Deogarh Ambika Mishra had come under scanner last year when the Vigilance reported that his role is not above suspicion, but he was promoted and posted as RDC, Southern Division.
P K Meherda, formerly Collector of Mayurbhanj, is now the Director, National Rural Health Mission. The Government said it will frame charges against Mishra and Meherda while Balasore Collector Manish Varma has been shunted out.
“Action will be taken against whosoever is found guilty,” Naveen said, minutes after Pramila resigned owning moral responsibility.
Pramila said she quit on moral grounds and in the interest of the party so that the image of its leaders and State Government remains clean. Pramila, who met Naveen and submitted her papers earlier in the day, asserted there was no pressure on her whatsoever from any quarters to resign.
The BJD Government had come under attack from the Congress and the BJP in the wake of the scam detected by State Vigilance in the purchase of ‘dal’ for mid-day meal and supplementary nutrition programmes.
The two programmes have at least 95 lakh beneficiaries, 60 lakh of them being schoolchildren. Four districts came under Vigilance raids after which the matter spiralled out of Government’s control.
Pramila said she was not afraid of any investigation. “I did not resign earlier because I did not want to give an impression that I was afraid of a probe. Now that Vigilance has given me a clean chit, I quit,” she said. A minister in Naveen Patnaik Government since 2004, Pramila blamed the district authorities for the irregularities saying those who procured the ‘dal’ and those who monitored the programmes are responsible for the scam.
Meanwhile, the Government has posted Mishra back in the State Secretariat as officer without duty while his promotion to Commissioner-cum-Secretary rank appears stalled. Varma has been posted in Planning and Coordination Department as Additional Secretary. L N Nayak will now be the RDC, Southern Division while A B Ota will be Collector of Balasore.
