LUCKNOW: Rumblings of discontent have started emerging in Yogi government 2.0 just four months into governance. While Dinesh Khatik, junior minister of Jal Shakti, left the state government baffled by announcing his resignation on Wednesday, cabinet minister for PWD, Jitin Prasada, was said to be upset with the action taken by the CMO against his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and five other senior officials of the department over complaints of irregularities and corruption in transfer and posting of engineers.
Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Dinesh Khatik, considered to be an influential Dalit leader, sent his resignation from cabinet through a letter written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Wednesday. In his letter, the minister claimed to be a victim of bureaucratic indifference saying he was being ignored by the officials of his department.
While announcing his resignation, Khatik, a two-time MLA from Hastinapur, complained that the officials of the level of principal secretary neither listened to him nor inform him about the meetings and other developments taking place in the JalShakti department.
Khatik claimed that the officers were deliberately ignoring him as he belonged to a scheduled caste.
The copy of the letter is doing rounds on social media. Khatik did not attend the cabinet meeting chaired by CM Yogi on Tuesday relinquishing the security and official vehicle provided to him.
However, he put only the officers on target saying that he was being made to feel that the MoS should not expect anything more than an official car. However, the minister did not say anything about his senior Swatantra Dev Singh, who is also state BJP chief.
Khatik also made claims about prevailing corruption in departmental transfers and postings. Referring to an instance where he sought information on July 9 about transfers after receiving complaints of irregularities and corruption, the minister said that he was yet to get the response from officials concerned. He even claimed that the PM’s favourite Namami Gange project was also marred by corruption on the ground.
On the other, another Yogi minister, Jitin Prasada, heading PWD, is believed to be disenchanted with the action initiated by Chief Minister’s Office against the officers of his department over the irregularities found in transfer and postings of engineers.
As per the sources, Prasada met CM Yogi Adityanath after the cabinet meeting to discuss the issue on Tuesday and believably met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to put forth his stand. However, he rejected the claims of discontent saying he was working under CM Yogi Adityanath who had the policy of zero tolerance to corruption. “In case of anomalies, action is imperative,” he said.
The office of CM Yogi Adityanath cracked the whip on the PWD officials removing Prasada’s OSD Anil Kumar Pandey on Monday over his alleged role in irregularities including involvement of money in transfer and posting of engineers. It was followed by the suspension of five senior officers of the department in the matter.
The CM had taken the notice of complaints of anomalies in departmental postings on July 12 and had set up a probe committee comprising Agriculture Production Commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh and senior IAS officer Devesh Chaturvedi.
As per the official spokesperson, on the basis of recommendations of probe report, besides Pandey’s removal, the axe of suspension fell on five officers including PWD Head of the Department and Engineer-in-chief Manoj Kumar Gupta, Chief Engineer (Project and Planning) Rakesh Kumar Saxena and Senior Staff Officer Shailendra Kumar Yadav, Administrative officer Pankaj Dixit and head clerk Sanjay Kumar Chaurasia. Even a vigilance probe has also been ordered into the transfers in PWD.
Over the action on the officers of his ministry, Prasada said strict action would naturally be taken if irregularities were detected. “This will be coupled with more changes as per the requirement. There is no question of unhappiness or discontent,” maintained Prasada.
“We are following the policy of zero tolerance to corruption and working under CM Yogi to come up to people’s expectations,” he added. He, however, accepted that he had sought time to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah a week back but was yet to get it.
Anil Kumar Pandey, who was removed on Monday, has been with Prasada since he was a Union Minister in UPA II. He called him when he took over as a minister in Yogi government after joining the BJP last year in June and appointed him as his OSD. Prasada is a member of UP legislative council.
Meanwhile, sending out a word of caution to all his ministers following a series of irregularities in PWD and health department, CM Yogi said that no act of corruption would be tolerated. He asked the ministers to take all the decisions on merit instead of depending on their personal staff completely.
The CM was speaking to the group of ministers after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. Yogi also asked the cabinet ministers to take their juniors along. Probably being in the knowhow of the discontent of Khatik, CM Yogi categorically told the cabinet ministers to work in tandem with Ministers of state keeping them abreast of all the developments and inviting them to departmental meetings.