5T Secretary attend marriage function by travelling in a helicopter?

The BJP alleged that the 5T Secretary had visited Angul to attend BJD’s Pallahara MLA Mukesh Pal’s wedding ceremony. Similarly, the IAS officer flew to Talcher in a chopper on June 28 this year. He was said to attend a government event. But no government programme was held on that day. The CM’s private secretary attended the family function of the Talcher MLA. 

Now, the BJP has raised questions as to how far it is acceptable that the 5T Secretary is making chopper rides to attend personal functions. 

Without any official programme, the 5T Secretary attended the marriage function of Mukesh Pal on May 14 and later attended a family function of a local MLA on June 28. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that it is unethical on the 5T Secretary’s part to tour places within the state by spending around Rs 500 crore from the state exchequer.

Odisha CM and Chief Secretary whether the 5T Secretary is entitled to helicopter services for attending marriage function feast, BJP Spokesperson Anil Biswal Said.

“The government helicopter is being used for even 5 km long travel. The dates which we mentioned is not any government programmes, rather it was personal work. So whether the Secretary is entitled to attend marriage function by travelling in a helicopter?” questioned Biswal.

“The helicopter has flown around 75 times in the past 6 months. Not only helicopters, we want to know who is using charted flights and other business jets. As per our estimate, the total expenses are around Rs 500 crore in past three to four months. If such trend or drama continues till the elections, there will be a burden of over Rs 1,000 crore on the state exchequer,” Biswal added.

“The officers are not listening to the ministers. Officer raaj is going on in Odisha.” Senior Congress leader, Narasingha Mishra said.

BJD MLA, Satya Narayan Pradhan said, “Naturally, helicopter will be used to cover a district and various constituencies in a day or two for government-related works and hear the grievances of people. There is no problem with it.”