The Odisha administrative service officers in Mayurbhanj district are protesting against Union minister of state for jal shakti and tribal affairs Bishweswar Tudu’s allegedly disrespectful remarks about them in Mayurbhanj recently. Tudu is the Lok Sabha member from Mayurbhanj district.

The officers with black badges organised a silent protest on Monday evening on their office premises at Baripada (district headquarters of Mayurbhanj). They urged the minister to behave with the government officials in a “decent and dignified manner.”

Additional district magistrate Rudra Naryan Mohanty told The Telegraph: “The minister’s official had called me to allot three rooms and accordingly three rooms were allotted, including a suite and a VIP cottage, for his visit to Mayurbhanj on October 9. The annual repair and maintenance work was going on in other parts of the building of the district circuit house.

“On that day (October 9) at 4.26pm, the minister called and abused me and asked why repair work was on during his visit.”

Mohanty said: “Though I tried to explain that it was an ongoing annual maintenance work, the minister was in no mood to listen. Suddenly the hon’ble minister started using abusive language and threatened physical assault in the event of a similar situation arising in future.”

Another Odisha Administrative Service official, now a tehsildar in Mayurbhanj, said: “I was attending a review meeting in Baripada. When we pointed out our difficulties, the minister suddenly flew into a rage and started abusing us. He even threatened to physically assault us and beat us with slippers. This was one and a half months ago.”

Repeated calls by this paper to Tudu’s mobile phone to seek his reaction went unanswered.