IAS Officer Merely Transferred For Spending ₹70 Lakh To Repair Official Residence, No Punitive Action
Rashmita Panda, IAS
Rashmita Panda accused of deliberately bypassing tender process
The Odisha government has transferred Rashmita Panda, District Collector of Sundargarh, who was accused of splurging ₹70 lakh on the renovation of her official residential quarters within a period of six months.
Ms. Panda has now been appointed as Director of Employment-cum-Chief Executive Officer of the Odisha Skill Development Authority.
According to information obtained by RTI activists, the 2010 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, as the then Vice-Chairperson of the Rourkela Development Authority, Commissioner of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation and CEO of the Rourkela Smart City Authority had her official quarters renovated by spending ₹68.57 lakh.
No tender was called for renovation of her quarters in Rourkela, and the project cost of each head of expenditure was deliberately kept below ₹5 lakh to avoid the tender process, alleged Pradip Pradhan, convenor of the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan, a forum of Right to Information activists.
According to the expenditure details available, ₹4.04 lakh was estimated for fixing mosquito nets; plastic emulsion painting work was valued at ₹4.45 lakh; external and internal electrification of the quarters was estimated at close to ₹10 lakh; and construction of drains and a portico was estimated at ₹4.44 lakh.
Works such as construction of a guard room, raising the height of the boundary wall, construction of an additional dining room, and fixing of aluminium sliding windows were estimated at a little above ₹4 lakh each. After the issue attracted media attention, the government shifted her to the Employment Directorate.
This is no punishment, There is a laid down scale of accommodation for Government servants right from a peon to the Ministers. In case this has been breached then instead of just being transferred she should be made to pay back whatever has been spent unauthorized. Also she should be barred from taking any financial decision without concurrence of her next superior for at least two years.
