In a major goof-up, the Odisha state government mistakenly assigned a deceased Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer to manage crowds for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on September 17.
However, after drawing flak on social media, the government quickly rectified the mistake the following day.
The general administration and public grievance department on Friday, September 13 issued an order, assigning 50 senior OAS officers to the women and child development department for crowd management during the Prime Minister’s visit to launch Subhadra Yojana, a cash incentive scheme for women at Janata Maidan, Times of India reported.
The order included Prabodha Kumar Rout as one of the officers, specifying his position as an administrative officer at the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC). The officer has passed away in July of the previous year and his last posting was indeed at OCAC.
After facing criticism on social media, the government issued a corrigendum. The officer’s name was replaced with Subrat Kumar Jena, a land officer at the industrial infrastructure development corporation (IDCO). Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja confirmed, “It has been changed,” the report mentioned.
Reacting to government’s order, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) social media cell head Swayam Prakash Mohapatra took a jab at the state government for the error.
“A very strange situation, a strange regime is going on. An officer, who has been dead a year ago has been given the charge of crowd control during the Prime Minister’s visit,” Mohapatra wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
PM Modi during his visit to the state will launch the state’s new ‘Subhadra’ Yojana’ scheme and initiate railway projects worth ₹2,800 crore.
‘Subhadra’ Yojana is aimed at benefiting over one crore women in Odisha. The program provides eligible women aged 21 to 60 with ₹50,000 over five years, delivered in annual payments of ₹10,000 in two installments.
Funds will be transferred directly to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. To mark the occasion, Modi will start the fund transfers for more than 10 lakh women with payments planned for Rakhi Purnima and International Women’s Day over the next five years.
