Officer suspended for eating chicken curry during school visit
Bhubaneswar: An Education department officer in Odisha's Sundergarh district had been placed under suspension for eating chicken curry in a school while the children were served rice and dal only under mid-day-meal scheme, officials said on Saturday.
Sundergarh District Collector Nikhil Pavan Kalyan suspended Binay Prakash Soy, Block Education Officer (BEO), Bonai, after a video of the BEO eating chicken curry brought from outside alongside the school children went viral, the officials said.
"Soy is hereby put under suspension with immediate effect pending finalisation of disciplinary proceeding for such gross misconduct, dereliction of duties and inappropriate behaviour during delivery of public service," the order issued by the Collector on Friday said.
The incident took place at Tileimal Project Primary School in Bonai during the visit of the BEO on October 3 before Dusshera holidays. Soy had been to school to review the functioning of the Mid-day Meal (MDM) programme.
The BEO received a warm welcome from headmaster Tupi Chandan Kisan and other teachers as soon as he reached the school. After visiting the MDM kitchen, Soy preferred to sit with the students for lunch.
Though the students were excited to find the BEO sitting among them for the lunch, they were served only rice and dal. However, the Soy and other teachers were served chicken curry and salads, the video showed.
Soy, however, denied the allegation and said that : "The curry served to him was not chicken, but a vegetarian food brought for him by a woman teacher from her house."
The incident has sparked a strong resentment among the local people forcing the district collector to order a departmental inquiry into the matter.
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Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link now fully operational
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link was opened to vehicular traffic on Saturday noon after a delay caused by the dismantling of inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work, a day after the Pune section became operational.
The 13.3 km-long "missing link", which bypasses a section of the Bhor Ghat stretch of the expressway and cuts travel time between Mumbai and Pune by 25 to 30 minutes, was inaugurated a day earlier by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar.
The Pune-bound carriageway of the corridor was opened to traffic immediately; however, the Mumbai-bound section remained closed to traffic for several hours after the inauguration.
An official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation told PTI on Saturday that the opening of the Mumbai-bound carriageway was delayed mainly due to the dismantling of the inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work.
The removal of the stage and other decorations was completed in the morning. The work to load and transport the material slightly delayed the opening of the carriageway.
Vehicular movement on the carriageway began after all the remaining material was cleared and road cleaning was completed, the official added.
The expressway control room said that despite significant vehicular movement, the access-controlled highway has not witnessed any major traffic snarls since Friday evening, after the Pune-bound carriageway of the missing link was opened to traffic.
The Missing Link project connects Khopoli (in Raigad) on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala in Pune district and is expected to make the expressway fully access-controlled, easing congestion in the ghat section.
Developed by the MSRDC and dubbed an "engineering marvel", the project includes two tunnels, two viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley. It bypasses the steep, accident-prone ghat section, where frequent traffic snarls are reported during weekends and on public holidays.
