SRINAGAR/GUWAHATI: Middle-rank IAS officers punished by the government are often dispatched to ‘non-family stations’ such as Ladakh or locations in the North-East. A similar fate perhaps awaited IAS couple Sanjeev Khirwar and Rinku Dugga.
While Khirwar has been ‘penalised’ with a posting in Ladakh, Dugga is being sent off to Arunachal Pradesh. The government action, has however, gone against the sentiments of people who say their places aren’t meant for the babus on the mat.
The couple earned public ire because they closed the government-run Thyagraj Stadium in Delhi before the scheduled time so that they could walk their pet at the facility. Konchok Stanzin, a Ladakh politician and councillor Chushul, said Ladakh should not be treated as a punishment posting. “Ladakh needs a better IAS officer because the elected representatives have no real authority to run the UT. For us, a difficult time has already begun,” tweeted Stanzin.
Sajjad Kargili, a politician and civil society activist from Kargil who unsuccessfully contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Ladakh, said transferring an IAS officer on a punishment posting to Ladakh shows lack of seriousness of the Centre towards the sensitive region that shares borders with China and Pakistan.
“Ladakh needs upright and efficient officers. The centre needs to send efficient officers to Ladakh. Instead, it is sending officers found violating rules. Anybody in India who is incompetent is sent to Ladakh on a punishment posting,” Kargili said.
In the North-East, Twitter users were aflame. “The North-East is a beautiful place, not meant for punishing an officer,” tweeted Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, the chief of Tripura Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance. “The mindset of the mainlanders will never change – the North-East is also considered as a punishment or retirement posting for ageing politician as governor,” Debbarma, who belongs to Tripura’s royal family, tweeted.
Manoranjan Pegu tweeted: “This transfer is being celebrated because people still view North-East India as ‘jungle’, ‘extreme’, remote places where people should go only for punishment. Delhi’s discards get space in Arunachal.” Senior journalist Karma Paljor tweeted, “We are not and will not be the Siberia for the rest of India.”