On November 22nd, a handful of junior and middle level bureaucrats mortgaged the State’s pride as a good host and went to the extent of affronting Orissa before a national guest – Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn who had been on a four-day visit to the State.
By Dhirendra Mishra & Prakash Rao
It’s no news that Orissa has been colonized by bureaucrats since the day Naveen Patnaik took over the reigns. In the name of Naveen, this tribe (IAS and IPS) rule and misrule, misbehave, too, and does not hesitate to put the dignity of the State to ransom. On November 22nd, a handful of junior and middle level bureaucrats mortgaged the State’s pride as a good host and went to the extent of affronting Orissa before a national guest – Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn who had been on a four-day visit to the State. And, the culprits are Revenue Divisional Commissioner (South) Parag Gupta and Koraput district collector Subha Sarma.
The princess, also the Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations for the World Food Programme (WFP), had been to Koraput to monitor some of the World Bank funded projects on Tuesday. She was scheduled to arrive at the Jeypore airstrip at 10 am. The State Government had appointed RDC Parag Gupta to be the protocol in-charge of receiving the princess and Koraput collector Subha Sarma had been instructed to accompany Gupta in the entourage.
As it turned out, both Gupta and Sarma had their own regal way of estimating their positions, and ignoring others. The national guest Sirindhorn was a mere so-so tourist for these insensible officers. The princess’ flight landed at the Jeypore airstrip at about 9.40 am, twenty minutes ahead. And, to the princess’ nightmare, no protocol of any recognition was in place. Neither the RDC nor the collector or for that matter the district SP Arun Bothra was present to receive the national guest. A low level health official of the district rushed to welcome the princess with a bouquet. But, the guests accompanying the princess, Thai Ambassador and officials of the Indian Embassy, raised their eyebrows and expressed displeasure at the casual attitude of the protocol. The princess, too, was aghast. Yet, she waited on the regal bureaucrats at the airstrip lounge.
InsightOrissa.com investigation revealed that collector Sarma meandered on her way to the airstrip at about 9.50 am along with the SP who reportedly was on duty to check other security measures some two km away at Umori where the Thai princess was scheduled to visit. Parag Gupta, true to his ultimate regality, arrived dot on 10 am as if he were the President of the country. Mercifully, the princess was generous enough to wait this long, though with perceptible disgust.
Despite their obnoxious and indefensible behavior, the officers were naĂŻve enough to try to cover up their inexcusable misses. The RDC Gupta told insightorissa.com that nothing of that happened and the princess was happy with her Koraput trip. She even presented a memento to him, said the RDC. Collector Sarma tried to act smarter when she bluffed outrightly that she was on time to receive the princess and there was no anomaly of any kind as has been alleged.
But the Thai princess was indeed peeved to the core. She was heard expressing her displeasure about the Koraput trip and the attitude of the protocol officials during her visit the State Museum in Bhubaneswar on the same day. |