JAJPUR: The celebration of Dharmasala MLA Pranab Balabantaray’s birthday in a local government school on Sunday has snowballed into a major controversy. In the absence of Balabantaray, the Dharmasala BJD’s youth and student wings celebrated the MLA’s birthday at Bajragiri Nodal UP School in Kotapur gram panchayat. Though it was a Sunday, students and teachers attended school to participate in birthday celebrations.
Surprisingly, all the students and the teachers wore their uniforms on the occasion. A cake-cutting ceremony was organised and the MLA’s supporters displayed a banner in the school building which carried a photograph of Balabantaray with ‘Happy Birthday Bhai’ written on it.
After the incident came to light, Congress alleged a breach of model code of conduct as the venue of the birthday celebration comes under the zone no 15 of the local Zilla Parishad which will witness by-election on August 9.
Congress leader Kisan Panda alleged that by organising the event, the BJD violated the model code of conduct which is in force in zone no 15. “Who gave permission to celebrate the BJD MLA’s birthday in a government school?” he questioned.
Panda said the Congress has filed a complaint against the BJD for violating the model code with the block development officer (BDO) of Dharmasala on his WhatsApp.
However, BDO Debendra Kumar Bal said he has not received any complaint on breach of the model code. But he admitted that as per rule, there is no provision to organise any private function in a government school. Contacted, Dharmasala block education officer Nikunja Behari Mohanty said he was unaware of the incident.