A day after both the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) IAS Cadre and DANICS (Delhi and Andaman & Nicobar Islands Civil Service) associations passed a resolution to ‘stand up’ against the ‘injustice’ meted out to them by the political executive, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lambasted the officials for passing ‘politically-motivated’ resolutions.
In a presser on Wednesday, Mr. Sisodia warned the officials working with the Delhi government of strict action if they refused to work for the welfare of the public. “Is it an IAS association or a political body? If the Delhi government takes action against any officer, they go on strike,” Mr. Sisodia said.
Taking a jibe at the officials, Mr. Sisodia said that a patient died at LNJP Hospital due to non-availability of a ventilator but “our Health Secretary refused to come as he didn’t have a car”.
On Sunday, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had asked the Health Secretary to accompany him to the hospital. “Shameful. Lt Governor has appointed the most incompetent, useless and insensitive IAS officer as the Health Secretary [sic],” Mr. Jain had tweeted.
Representatives of the two associations met Mr. Sisodia on Wednesday and gave him a copy of the resolution, in which they expressed anguish at the “insults and use of offensive language against some senior officers by the political executive”. They also submitted a copy of the resolution to the Lieutenant-Governor’s office.
‘Focus on other issues’
However, Mr Sisodia said that there were other serious issues that the IAS associations should discuss rather than defending an official’s “irresponsible behaviour”.
“I want to tell all the bureaucrats of Delhi that people have elected us to serve them, not to stay in luxurious offices,” Mr. Sisodia said.
Mr. Sisodia also asked why the associations are not passing any resolution against dereliction of duty by officers and stalling various public welfare projects.
“There is an officer sitting on the file related to promotion of Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik’s father, a DTC employee, for the last three months. Pass a resolution against that officer. Files related to adding 10,000 beds in hospitals, buying new buses and many other decisions to benefit public are pending. They don’t pass resolutions against that. Why do they pass only political resolutions?” Mr. Sisodia said.
