Orissa govt turns home of 'corrupt' IAS official into dispensary

Bhubaneswar: Following the footsteps of the Nitish govt in Bihar, the Orissa government has converted the confiscated house of a retired IAS officer convicted in a disproportionate assets case into a homeopathic dispensary in Bhubaneswar.

The state government has now decided to use the confiscated properties of corrupt officials for public purposes.

This dispensary became functional minutes after the announcement was made during the observance of vigilance awareness week.

"As a first step towards this initiative, the state government today is putting one such confiscated building at Gandamunda in Jagamara of the state capital to function as a homoeopathic dispensary," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.

The state government had recently confiscated a two-storeyed building of Sanjiv Kumar Ray, a retired IAS officer after he was convicted in a disproportionate asset case by the special judge of special court in Bhubaneswar on January 25, 2011.

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Ray was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh in default of rigorous imprisonment for a further period of 6 months for acquiring assets to the tune of Rs 16,40,337.93 during his service from 1997 to 2001 which were disproportionate to his income.

Orissa is the second state after Bihar to use properties of corrupt official for public purpose. Earlier, Bihar government had turned the house a corrupt officer into a school.

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Bihar government had converted the confiscated house of a suspended IAS officer into a school in September.

(With inputs from PTI)