A video of Saroj Kumar Meher forcing a PWD engineer has gone viral on the social media. (File)

Newly-elected Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator from Patnagarh in Odisha has courted controversy by forcing a government official to do sit-ups as punishment for alleged poor quality of road construction in his constituency.

A video clip of Saroj Kumar Meher forcing a junior engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) of Belpada block to do 100 sit-ups in public has gone viral on the social media.

The MLA also threatened the engineer with violence if he refused to follow his orders.

In the video, the engineer is seen doing sit-ups and apologizing for poor quality work.

Mr Meher is a first-time MLA from Patnagarh constituency in Balangir district.