Kolkata: Three IAS officers
and an IPS officer have been transferred in the last 24 hours in West
Bengal after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed dissatisfaction
over their handling of the Covid-19 crisis and the lockdown.
The
transfer order of the IAS officers — Principal Secretary, Food and
Supplies Manoj Agarwal, and District Magistrates (DM) of West Burdwan,
Shashank Shethi, and Darjeeling Deepap Priya P. — were issued Thursday.
On Friday, Banerjee issued the transfer order of Ajeet Singh Yadav, Superintendent of Police (SP), Murshidabad district.
Mamata unhappy with ration distribution
Banerjee during a televised meeting
Thursday at the state secretariat, Nabanna, said she was “extremely
unhappy” with the food distribution department and the way ration shops
are being managed.
Sources in the government said this
comes after Banerjee received reports in the past week of beneficiaries
not receiving the allotted food grains — rice and wheat.
In some cases, even the ruling Trinamool Congress local leaders, including councillors and MLAs, were accused of taking food grains away
from the designated ration shops by intimidating the shop owners. The
local leaders were also accused of distributing the government ration to
the people just to show that they are helping them out amid this
crisis.
Banerjee had issued several warnings
to the food distribution department earlier and also to her party’s
local leaders against such mismanagement of government ration.
On Thursday she finally ordered the
transfer of the department’s secretary Agarwal, who has been sent “on
compulsory waiting”, meaning he does not have any posting now.
Agarwal has been replaced by Parwez Ahmed Siddiqui.
Influx in Siliguri, lockdown breach reasons for transfer
Darjeeling DM Deepap Priya P. has been brought back to Nabanna as ‘officer on special duty’ at the Home department.
According to sources, Deepap was
transferred as the influx of people from other states to Siliguri, which
is a tri-junction of international borders — Bhutan, Nepal and China —
could not be brought under control.
Moreover, a woman, who tested
positive for Covid-19 in an area in Siliguri and later died, infected at
least nine members of her family and later it became a Covid-19 cluster
in Siliguri.
The new district magistrate for Darjeeling is now Ponnambalam S.
West Burdwan DM Shethi has been appointed as the ‘officer on special duty’ to the chief secretary.
According to sources, Shethi was
transferred after there were reports of people violating the lockdown in
the district. Sources added Shethi was replaced by Purnendu Manjhi.
SP of Murshidabad transferred
Yadav has been posted as the SP, Counter Insurgency Force, in Durgapur. He has been replaced by K. Sabari Raj Kumar.
Sources said Yadav’s transfer comes a week after a huge gathering outside a mosque at the time of Friday prayers snowballed into a major controversy.
The Mamata Banerjee government was criticised for allowing Muslims to gather outside a mosque amid the lockdown.
A senior government official also said that Yadav was transferred as
Banerjee was angry after hundreds of daily wagers, including women and
children, came out on the streets in Domkal to protest against lack of food supplies.
Meanwhile, in a televised meeting
with DMs, SPs and departmental secretaries Friday, Banerjee has asked
them to seal the inter-state borders and also keep a vigil on the
international border entry points.
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