Odisha IAS officers lodge protest against Pradhan's remark

Peeved over Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan's remark allegedly against a senior bureaucrat in the state, the Odisha IAS Officer Association today appealed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

The incident took place yesterday when Pradhan attended the inauguration of the National Data Centre here along with Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Odisha's IT Secretary and senior IAS officer Ashok Meena was also present at the same meeting.

The incident took place on 28.05.18 at the inauguration of the National Data Centre of NIC, Bhubaneswar, wherein Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister personally targeted a senior IAS officer of the state government, who was attending the function on invitation," the association said in the memorandum submitted to the chief minister.

Stating that Pradhan took the name of the IAS officer at least thrice at the meeting, IAS association secretary Vishal Dev said, "The remark is uncalled for and not welcome. We have registered a protest to such remark."