Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
For loot of Orissa mines, the Government of Orissa has suspended the Director of Mines, Rabindra Narayan Sahoo on September 16. But the delay in taking this minimum necessary action is so inordinate that the Vigilance Police, involved with the action, would do better to clarify as to who had protected Sahu so far from suspension.
The peoples of Orissa should immediately be informed as to whether Sahu is suspended from service or from office; because the notification in this matter is silent about the nature of suspension and unless clarifications issued, it would lead to suspect that the so-called suspension is mere choreography of administrative acrobatics aimed at hoodwinking the general public.
Sahu must be made to disclose why had he gone underground abandoning his office and where had he been during the period preceding the de facto bail granted to him by the High Court of Orissa. This will help peoples know who is his godfather in Orissa Government that gave him such cooperation in evading arrest that was then the minimum necessity to show that the Law was mightier than the miscreants.
In Sahu’s case it is clear that the Law was derailed.
It is also clear that he was allowed by the state government to join office on return from the under ground and to control the office during the most crucial period when relevant official records there were most needed to be saved from tampering.
Had he not been acting under direction of some one very high in administration to facilitate the loot of Orissa mines, the protection and patronage he has so far enjoyed should never have been available to him.
Let him be made to tell the truth. Let the loot be termed as treason against the State and merciless action against him be initiated if he does not divulge the name of the behind the curtain director of the loot, as obviously there is one, who has used his high office against turbulent times to keep him safe from the grip of Law, so far.
Medico-legal methods should be used to elicit the truth from Sahu; as otherwise, the State cannot be saved from the loot of its rare mineral wealth.
The Vigilance Police, inter alia, should explain as to why it occurred to it that only the Director of mines and a pack of his subordinates along with only two private operators were involved with the loot; not any minister or the Chief Minister.
This is urgent in public interest.