Ujjwal Kumar Brahma, who is an Ex-Superintendent of Police in the Bhubaneswar vigilance department, had retired in Feb 2010. But the 68-year-old officer has not forgotten his promise to rid Govt. offices of corruption until his last breath.

The Ex-Cop has been staging half-naked protests against the ‘rampant corruption’ in different departments of the State Govt. across Balasore town since Oct 2, 2019. As a mark of protest, the Ex-SP has been polishing shoes of passers-by. On Thursday, Brahma was found sitting half-naked under a tree in front of the collector’s office in Balasore & polishing shoes throughout the day. 

The retired SP said, “I chose Oct 2 for starting the protest because it marked the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. I chose polishing shoes to get attention".

He said the reason behind sitting on a protest was partly personal & blamed the corruption-ridden social situation. “Though I am a retired cop, I had a raw deal in a case relating to land purchase. 

Brahma added, the local police were not ready to listen to my complaint. My wife was cheated by a man who promised her the land".

However, his latest protest did not have a personal connection.

He said that “This was meant to highlight that celebrating vigilance awareness week & months was yielding no result. Innocent students are exploited for taking out rallies. Corruption in government offices continues to be rampant".

On Oct 22, Brahma sat on the protest in front of the SP’s office in Balasore. He had put a garland of shoes around his neck & pasted stickers on his body with anti-corruption slogans on them.

Brahma’s 2 daughters are law graduates from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. Both of them are into teaching law now.

“Government officials become more cautious these days. Despite various anti-corruption agencies monitoring the functioning of the government, it still remains at the centre stage there,” Ex-Cop said.

He added, “The selective accountability & cosmetic measures taken in the past few years didn’t make any difference on the ground. The corrupt officials continue to manage prized postings, accumulate huge wealth & roam freely.

K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, Balasore collector said he would find out the reasons behind staging protests.

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