ROURKELA: Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) minister Suresh Pujari on Saturday said a departmental inquiry has been ordered into the Rourkela Circuit House case, from where criminals carrying firearms were arrested on August 15.
Rourkela police arrested suspended BJP leader and Union Tribal Affairs minister Jual Oram’s Rourkela representative Prakash Paswan on charges of harbouring the criminals at the government facility. It later emerged that an actress had also stayed at the circuit house in December 2025.
Speaking on the sidelines of his official programme in Sundargarh town, Pujari said, “Discussions have been held with senior officials of the R&DM department and a detailed report has been sought on the alleged violation of the Odisha Circuit House rules in the reservation of rooms at the Rourkela Circuit House.”
He said consultations were also underway with stakeholders and a standard operating procedure (SOP) was being prepared to introduce online reservation of rooms across all circuit houses in the state, along the lines of the reservation system followed by Odisha Bhawan, to prevent similar incidents.
Pujari said the ‘Nazir’ (additional collector) in charge of the Rourkela Circuit House, along with others directly or indirectly involved in the reservation of rooms, had been relieved of their responsibilities. The circuit house has been temporarily closed, while the collector has been given overall responsibility until further orders.
During his day-long visit, the minister attended a review meeting with officials. He reviewed the status of the removal of encroachments from government land, distribution of land records under the Basundhara scheme and the Forest Rights Act, the ongoing hi-tech land survey, steps taken to protect government land and progress in the submission of utilisation certificates against development funds.
Pujari also took stock of the distribution of emergency relief funds and the progress of land acquisition for various development projects. The occasion also saw the distribution of land rights under the Basundhara scheme to beneficiaries from Tangarpali and Lephripada blocks.
Among those present were RN Pali MLA and District Planning Committee chairman DC Tanti and Sundargarh collector Subhankar Mohapatra.
