Bhopal: In a major midnight swoop, the newly formed Congress government in Madhya Pradesh removed as many as 48 IAS officers, including several names that were mired in controversies at the time of polling.
Bracing itself for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has resorted to perform an administrative surgery by issuing a clutch of transfers and suspensions of government officials across the state.
During campaigning, Kamal Nath had repeatedly admonished bureaucrats that “severe action will be taken” against those who exhibited partisan behaviour.
The transfer list comprised names of 15 collectors who were shunted from ground duty and have been posted at Mantralaya. Besides this, as many as 11 collectors were moved around in field postings.
After the EVM feud which marred the polling and counting process in Vindhya region, three collectors from here have been removed. This region reported maximum EVM snags on the day of polling, leaving the party leaders on their toes.
The Congress had already demanded a forensic probe in Vidhya, after the grand old party received a drubbing here, especially in Rewa, where it lost all eight seats.
Shivpuri collector Shilpa Gupta, believed to not to be in the good books of new CM Kamal Nath, has been posted at Mantralaya as deputy secretary. Alok Kumar Singh who was the collector at Sagar lost the field posting after EVMs from here reached the Strong Room 48 hours late.
Collector Preeti Maithil, who had issued shooting orders at the Strong Room has been transferred and appointed as the Collector of Sagar. Priti Maithil, the District Collector of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh was pulled up by the top officer of the state election body, after she was heard in a purported video giving "shoot" to kill order for safeguarding the EVMs.
In Kamal Nath’s home town Chhindwara, incumbent district magistrate Ved Prakash has been removed and additonal commissioner of revenue Sriniwas Verma has been posted.
Bureaucrats considered close to former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, too, faced the brunt, with Sehore collector Tarun Pithode transferred to Alirajpur, a far-flung tribal dominated district in MP.
Hoshangabad which is also close to Chouhan’s hometown Sehore felt the heat as collector Priyanka Das has now been posted at Morena. Besides this, a powerful bureaucrat of Shivraj era, Manoj Srivastava has been stripped of his duties at department of commercial tax and has been posted at animal husbandry department. He has been replaced by IAS officer Manu Srivastava.
Manish Rastogi who had blown the lid off the e-tendering scam at MP State Electronic Development Corporation, has been shifted from revenue and now been posted at department of religious trusts and affairs.
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