'Dead officer to control crowd' at PM Modi's event: Odisha corrects order after goof-up

PM Narendra Modi

Ahead of PM Modi's upcoming visit to Bhubaneswar on September 17, an oversight by the Odisha government sparked controversy.

The state government mistakenly assigned a deceased officer, Prabodha Kumar Rout, to manage the crowd at the event.

Rout, an Odisha Administrative Service officer, had passed away in July 2023. After the blunder drew criticism on social media, the government corrected the order the following day, clarifying the mistake. The event was part of PM Modi's birthday celebrations, where he unveiled the cash incentive scheme for women at Janata Maidan.

The original order, issued on Friday, listed Prabodha Kumar Rout, an Odisha Administrative Service officer who passed away in July 2023, among those responsible for crowd management at Janata Maidan for the launch of the Subhadra Yojana, a cash incentive scheme for women.

After criticism on social media, the state government corrected the order on Saturday.

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Swayam Prakash (@swayam4Odisha) September 13, 2024

BJD social media in-charge Swayam Prakash reacted on X: "A very strange situation, a strange regime is going on. An officer, who has been dead for less than a year, has been given the charge of crowd control during the Prime Minister's visit. Prabodh Kumar Raut, who is number 50 in the list, passed away almost a year ago."

"Maybe it will be like this in the double engine government," he wrote.