Bhubaneswar, Feb 2 (IANS): The Odisha government has dismissed senior IAS officer and former managing director of the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Vinod Kumar from service on corruption charges.

This action was taken after the corruption charges levelled against Kumar were found to be true and the Union government accorded necessary clearances to this effect, official sources said here on Wednesday.

Kumar, a 1989-batch IAS officer, is accused of sanctioning funds of Rs 33.34 crore through unfair means in the aftermath of super cyclone. At that time, he was serving as the MD of the ORHDC. As a result, the State government suffered huge financial losses.

Following this, the Odisha government had filed 27 vigilance cases against Kumar, of which he has been convicted in two of the cases.

The State government has always taken strong action against corruption. As per its 'zero tolerance towards corruption' policy, the state has recently given compulsory retirement to a senior IFS officer Abhay Kanta Pathak on corruption charges.