‘VIP’ Babus get EV trip to Jagannath temple’s Srimandir depriving beneficiaries

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR/PURI: If the Delhi stadium being emptied for an IAS couple to stroll their canine sparked off nationwide outrage, right here is an instance of how the babus are initiated into the VIP tradition on the very begin of their profession.

At least 181 IAS probationers who visited Jagannath Temple at Puri on Sunday loved the complete VIP therapy because the district administration rolled out a crimson carpet for them, even reserving battery-operated autos at the price of senior and ailing residents and folks with disabilities (PwDs), who’re the precise beneficiaries of the service.

As many as 11 battery-operated autos remained parked for over three hours ready for the younger bureaucrats to reach and take the 1 km trip to the temple, whereas hapless residents have been disadvantaged of the power until the contingent ended the temple tour.

The probationers, who visited the Sun Temple at Konark after assembly Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Bhubaneswar, arrived in Puri at about 7.40 pm. But, the autos have been put in ready from 4.30 pm with out anybody else allowed to avail service. 

Scores of aged individuals and people with disabilities, who have been in want of the autos which have been particularly assigned for the service freed from price by the State authorities, needed to return upset with out going to the temple. Many others needed to take the arduous stroll to the temple from Jagannath Ballav Mutt, as different autos are barred from the purpose.

“We asked the vehicle operators for the ride but were refused service. We had to walk all the way to the temple in the terribly hot and humid conditions,” stated a 65-year-old man who got here along with his spouse and kids. Over 30,000 devotees visited the shrine on Sunday. With heatwave-like situations prevailing within the State, the issues confronted by the residents who deserved the trip will be properly imagined.

Sources stated the Puri administration sanitized the realm by transferring out the distributors and even cleansing up the street stretch to provide the younger officers one of the best expertise.ADM (Protocol) Pradeep Sahoo, nevertheless, denied that the battery-operated automobile service was not supplied to senior residents and PwDs. “Out of 17 such vehicles, we had reserved 11 for the contingent. The bureaucrats used it only at 8 pm. Till then, it was provided to others as usual,” he instructed The New Indian Express.

However, it was for all to see that the autos had been lined up in entrance of Paradise Hotel since afternoon with seats lined with white towels, which is a well-recognized emblem of VIPs within the nation. The contingent that visited the temple included the IAS probationers and two Bhutanese Royal Service officers.