The controversy surrounding state procurement has intensified as the regional outfit Kalinga Sena staged a vociferous demonstration in front of the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OKAC) office, alleging massive financial irregularities in a recent CCTV installation tender.
According to Kalinga Sena, the tender was originally floated with an estimated budget of 24 Crore rupees to install CCTV camera systems across four major educational institutions in the state. Since OKAC serves as a premier technical establishment, it was entrusted with executing the technical implementation of the project.
However, addressing the media during the protest, Kalinga Sena Chief Hemant Rath made explosive allegations. He claimed that at the very last moment, the technical terms and conditions of the tender were surreptitiously altered. In a deliberate move to favour a specific company, the estimated project cost was reportedly doubled to a staggering 47 Crore rupees.
Rath further alleged that this multi-crore scam points to a deep-rooted conspiracy involving corrupt officials within the Higher Education Department, the IT Department, and OKAC itself, who allegedly abused their administrative powers to manipulate tender norms and project valuations arbitrarily.
Terming the incident a blatant loot of public money, Kalinga Sena has formally registered its grievances and warned that it is keeping a close watch on further developments. As part of its next phase of agitation, the Sena plans to reach out directly to students across the four affected universities to make them aware of the alleged corruption.
The protest was spearheaded by several prominent leaders of the outfit, including Vice President Purna Chandra Sahu, Monalisa Biswal, and Ananta Mohanty, signalling a prolonged political showdown over the issue.
