Covid-19: 5 suspended, 8 show-caused in Odisha district for

The administration of Jajpur district in Odisha on Monday suspended five government employees and issued show-cause notices to eight others including six doctors on the charge of dereliction of duty during the lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, official sources said.

Jajpur District Collector Ranjan Kumar Das placed five people under suspension after he found during a visit that a large number of people were roaming in the Champapur bi-weekly haat (market) violating the lockdown guidelines and social distancing norms.

The Champapur haat is operated by the Jajpur Regulated Marketing Committee and the collector suspended five of its employees for dereliction of their duties.

Das also issued show-cause notices to two child development project officers (CDPOs) of Dharmasala and Jajpur, and a medical officer of the community health centre (CHC) of Bari for their alleged absence from duty.

When the collector was on a visit to Danagadi block to review the situation on Monday, the assistant block development officer was not present in his office. Following this, Das recommended that the state government suspend the ABDO for dereliction of duty, sources said.

The chief district medical officer of Jajpur has also served show-cause notices to five doctors for their absence during the visit of the deputy collector to the district headquarters hospital.