Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday assured a whole lot of service associations that appropriate action will be taken on those who had attacked the house of IAS officer V Kartikeyan Pandian on 10 February.
The state secretariate witnessed unusual scenes on Monday with a stream of employees belonging to various sections crowding the CMO, each association with a petition demanding exemplary action on the hooligans and a system in place to ensure that employees and officers function without fear and favour.
The IAS officers association, IPS, OAS, employees association and a whole lot of others took turns to meet the Chief Minister and voice their concern at the unprecedented incident. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told media persons that the employees and people from different parts of the state had condemned the unfortunate incident. “They all met me and demanded stern action,” he said.
Appropriate action will be taken, he added. It may be noted that the IAS association had held a emergency meeting on Sunday and denounced the attack on the residence of Mr Pandian and also condemned the Odia – non-Odia officer bogey raised by a few sections. The Chief Minister had condemned the attack and expressed his shock that a national party could behave in such a fashion.
Significantly, the entire employee community as well as all political parties had denounced the attack. It is pertinent to note that BJP activists had attacked the house of Mr Pandian on 10 February. The police has arrested four BJP activists in this connection.