Bhubaneswar: The state government Monday placed a Block Development Officer (BDO) and two sarpanches under suspension on charges of corruption, official sources said.
The suspended BDO, an Odisha Administrative Service officer (OAS), was identified as Rabinda Kumar Satpathy, posted at Harbhanga block in Boudh district.
He was allegedly involved in financial irregularities in implementing PMAY and encouraging corruption. Notably, this is the first instance in the state wherein a BDO has been placed under suspension for accepting PC. Actions were also taken against Abhimanyu Jena and Ushant Sahoo, sarpnches of Kedarpur gram panchayat in Balasore district and of Ankorada gram panchayat in Ganjam district respectively.
“These three were suspended after the approval of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. While the BDO was suspended for his act of encouraging corruption in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Sahoo had accumulated properties disproportionate to his known source of income.