Rohini Sindhuri, former Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru, on Monday described as “sad and unfortunate” that an officer had “colluded” with a few politicians in the middle of a pandemic to target the Deputy Commissioner responsible for the district’s disaster management situation.
A day after Bagadi Gautham took over as the new Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru, Ms. Sindhuri sought to hit out at the collusion between “an officer and a few politicians”, although she did not name anybody.
However, in view of the developments in Mysuru over the past few days, it was clear that she was holding outgoing Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Shilpa Nag responsible for “colluding” with politicians.
Referring to Ms. Nag’s public reactions on her transfer from the post of Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Sindhuri, in a statement, said, “Getting me transferred should never have been the mission. Fighting the pandemic should be.”
Speaking to reporters after visiting the Deputy Commissioner’s office to meet her successor, Ms. Sindhuri said she sympathised with Ms. Nag’s “insecurity”. “It is wrong to say mission accomplished after removing an officer. It will be difficult to run the system if such things happen in a district or any organisation,” she said.
Ms. Sindhuri also expressed regret over the interference by “a few persons”. “We should have been allowed to work freely. Unnecessary interference by a few should not have been there,” she said. Despite the criticism coming from these quarters, she said the officials in the district had performed well as a team. The target was to free Mysuru district of COVID-19 by July 1, she added.
Fielding queries on the speculation over her action against land scams, Ms. Sindhuri said encroachment of government land and lakes takes place all over the State and is monitored by a State-level committee as well as the High Court. It was up to the officials to act against this, she said.
Ms Sindhuri also said that she had focussed on the removal of lake encroachments and acted against the creation of residential sites on encroached lake areas. Similarly, she said, steps had been taken to protect government land at Kurubarahalli Survey No. 4 involving more than 1,500 acres by engaging a leading lawyer in the Supreme Court.
She refused to answer when asked if the land mafia was behind her transfer. “No comments,” she remarked.
