LUCKNOW: An IAS officer of special secretary rank turns into a vegetable vendor overnight. Thanks to social media which is abuzz with his photographs showing him sitting on a roadside vegetables makeshift shop and a few customers standing in front of him.
The senior Uttar Pradesh IAS officer is Akhilesh Mishra, special secretary in the UP transport department. The images doing rounds on social media after they were posted on the Facebook timeline of the officer, show Mishra seated on what looks like a sack with a plethora of vegetables laid out in front of him. The shops seem to be in the busy market on the side of a road as other vegetable sellers and customers can also be seen.
However, after photos being shared on social media, the officer came out to clear the air. Claiming the images to be genuine, but not the action in which he was seen, said Mishra.
The IAS officer took to Facebook to explain what led to the now-viral photographs. “I was on a visit to Prayagraj for some official work yesterday. While on my way back, I stopped at a roadside market looking at the fresh vegetables. In the meantime, the vegetable vendor, an old lady, requested me to look after her shop saying she would be back in a moment as her child had gone too far,” said Mishra in the post in Hindi on his timeline.
The officer added: “Just as I sat down at her shop, a customer and the seller came. One of my friends took the photo and put it on my Facebook account from my phone. I saw these today itself. For your kind information….”