Bhubaneswar: Once the most powerful bureaucrat of the state, VK Pandian, who took voluntary retirement from IAS to join full time politics, seems to be in serious trouble following the installation of state’s first BJP government. Now the government has decided to launch a probe into expenses made from the state exchequer to build helipads and to pay for his chopper rides to various parts of the state.
“As 5T secretary, Pandian did not have the provision to use the helicopters. How the government gave permission and facilitated the landing of the helicopter? Who was bearing the helicopter costs for Pandian’s visit? It should be clear,” state law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said recently adding “The previous government passed the order for the construction of helipads and those were constructed at the government’s expense. Pandian had visited nearly 400-500 places in a helicopter and the expenses were made from the state exchequer. All these will come under the purview of the investigation.”
Pandian, who was former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s Man Friday for 11 years, was appointed as chairman of 5T (transformational initiatives) after he opted for voluntary retirement. He had earlier served as private secretary to Patnaik. In his capacity as chairman 5T with cabinet rank he did a lot of work, much of which has become questionable now. Recently state state commerce and transport minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena said a probe into the statewide chopper tours of the 2000-batch Indian Administrative Service officer between 2020 and 2023 was going to be launched soon.
“The people of Odisha are asking this question about his (Pandian’s) tours as they have seen how he was roaming around Odisha in chopper from February 2020 to December 2023. They are unable to digest it,” Jena said. The minister added that the matter would be thoroughly investigated and appropriate action will be taken if any irregularity was found.
Last year, Pandian visited 190 places in 30 districts on helicopter. He had claimed that he was taking the chief minister’s grievance cell to the doorstep of the people. He claimed to have collected 57,442 petitions from the people, of which 43,536 petitions were resolved. An amount of ₹6-9 crore was spent on the chopper rides. Though Patnaik government did not give any figures on the expenditure incurred on the meetings arranged in the 190 places although the BJP claims at least ₹500 crore was spent.
Pandian resigned from the civil service in October last year and joined the Biju Janata Dal amid speculation that he would be the successor to Patnaik. As Pandian emerged as BJD’s star campaigner, it not only angered the party’s rank and file but made him a prominent target for the BJP which also played up the former IAS officer’s Tamil origins.
The BJD, which had won 112 seats in the 2019 assembly election, was reduced to 51 seats, losing power to the BJP, which won 78 seats, up from 23 seats in the previous assembly.
Congress leader and former chief secretary Bijoy Patnaik demanded that instead of keeping the probe limited to Pandian’s chopper rides, the new government should investigate the scam in ₹35,000 crore rural drinking water supply project, medical expenses in treating patients during the Covid-19 pandemic and ₹20,000 crore in the procurement of items for treating Covid patients.
“Was there any audit of the funds utilised in the treatment of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic? If not, then the BJP government should go for it,” Bijoy Patnaik said. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), though, has sought to defend Pandian with one of its leaders saying that the former IAS officer was travelling in helicopters to hold public hearings. But things are likely to get really hot for the man whose word once used to be the law in the state.
