Odisha official suspended in ration card scam

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: In a damage control move, the Naveen Patnaik in Odisha today suspended a senior Odisha Administrative Service officer for irregularities in issuance of ration cards in Cuttack.Mayor of Cuttack Anita Behera had resigned from her post on Tuesday after it came to light that she had been issued a digitized ration card under the National Food Security Act.As opposition Congress and BJP reiterated their demand that stringent action be taken against the government employees who were in-charge of issuance of ration cards, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered suspension of former Additional Commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation on charges of dereliction of duty.Sahu, who was in-charge of verification of new ration cards, was placed under suspension on the basis of a report on the irregularities by the District Collector of Cuttack.Sahu is at present posted as Project Director of District Rural Development Agency, Subarnapur.A Community Officer of CMC and a school teacher who were engaged in issuance of ration cards in Cuttack were suspended for inclusion of Behera in the list of beneficiaries in the list.Meanwhile, reports about irregularities in issuance of ration cards under NFSA are pouring in from different parts of Odisha.While as many as seven Corporators in Cuttack had been issued the new ration cards, similar cases of issuance of ration cards to some Corporators had also come to light in Berhampur Municipal Corporation.Besides, a case was also reported from Kendrapara Municipality and Bhadrak Panchayat Samiti.Earlier, both Congress and BJP had alleged that a large number of BJD supporters were issued ration cards across the State while genuine beneficiaries were not included in the list.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee had also organised demonstrations at block headquarters across the State demanding issuance of ration cards to eligible families and deletion of names of ineligible families from the list of beneficiaries.