Rayagada Collector sends DWO to attend apex court case and keeps mum regarding her absence in Zilla Parishad meeting
Rayagada (Badal Tah): During the recent Zilla Parishad meeting held in DRDA conference hall, DWO Asima Rao’s absence was questioned by few members, especially a Block Chairperson. According to Asima’s clarification sent to a few scribes, she delegated the authority to ADWO to attend the said meeting as she was directed by Collector Parul Patawari to file a counter affidavit in the High Court Case WP(C)-23448 of 2022 vide her letter no 1614/X-384/2025 dated 9.4.2025. So Asima had to leave headquarters for two days, ie, for 15th and 16th April.
While the members were objecting Asima’s absence in the meeting, the Collector did not clarify regarding Asima’s absence for the court case. One of the Block Chairpersons was even disappointed by charging Asima for sending a lower level official to the meeting. According to Asima, ADWO, who is next to her in the office hierarchical structure, was representing as the district level officer. She has condemned the wordings of the Block Chairperson used in denigrating the the status of ADWO.
When this Correspondent asked Asima regarding reasons for Collector’s silence about her absence for official work, she said that she had no comments, but as per her statement the reasons of keeping mum are best known to the Collector Madam.
“The conflict between DWO and Collector has retarded the expected growth of the district. It seems, the Collector consciously avoided giving any clarification in the ZP meeting regarding absence of DWO though she herself was instrumental in authorizing Asima to represent the court case. It is not at all a good sign for one higher authority not to explain the genuine reasons for absence of one’s subordinate before honourable members of the house. Personal vengeance is non-negotiable “, rued Rasmi Ranjan Dora, a senior scribe of Rayagada.
