Odisha govt staff to 'mass bunk' office condemning attack on Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation officer

Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers have announced they will go on mass leave from Tuesday, condemning the assault on Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo in office premises. 

 

 

The Odisha Administrative Service Association condemned the attack by miscreants on Ratnakar Sahoo during a grievance hearing in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office premises on Monday. Visuals of the incident show miscreants assaulting and kicking Sahoo on the premises of the government building. Odisha police have so far arrested three persons in connection with the attack. Five to six people led by Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Jeevan Raut allegedly attacked Sahoo.

 

The officers's association condemned the attack and said they have decided to go on mass leave from July 1. In a letter to district bodies of the association, its president Jyoti Ranjan Mishra said, "This is to formally inform you that the Odisha Administrative Service Association has unanimously resolved to proceed on a mass leave with effect from 1st July, 2025, in protest against the appalling and deplorable attack on the Additional Commissioner BMC, which occurred in broad daylight within official premises."

 

 The BMC officer was allegedly attacked by miscreants for mistreating BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan. "While I was conducting a grievance hearing around 11.30 am, five to six people, including BMC corporator Jeevan Raut, barged into my chamber. As soon as he entered the chamber, the corporator asked me if I had misbehaved with Jag bhai (Jagannath Pradhan). But when I refused, the people accompanying him misbehaved and manhandled me. They dragged me out of my office, thrashed me and were trying to forcibly take me to their vehicle," Sahoo told NDTV.

 

Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the attack and demanded stern action against the assaulters. Patnaik asked, "If a senior officer is not safe in his own office, then what law and order will ordinary citizens expect from the government."

India