MADURAI: Hours after a circular issued by the Zonal Assistant Commissioner of Madurai Corporation, S Shanmugam, directing staff to keep the scheduled routes of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat clean, surfaced on social media, he was shunted out on Wednesday night.
According to the circular dated July 20 issued by Shanmugam, the RSS chief was scheduled to participate in events at the Saibaba temple in Sathya Sai Nagar of Zone 4 between July 22 and 26. Shanmugam directed all zonal officials to fix street lights and damaged roads all through the RSS chief's route from the airport. He further instructed to halt all other civic work including road renovation across the four zones during the scheduled time.
The circular, which was an internal communication, went viral after Madurai MP Su Venkatesan took to Twitter demanding an explanation from the Madurai Corporation and the district administration. Under which government rule was such an order passed, he asked. Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore also criticised the civic body for giving a red carpet welcome to an RSS leader at government expense. Several Left and Dravidian outfits also demanded immediate action against the official.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Corporation Commissioner KP Karthikeyan clarified that only regular arrangements were made as part of the Z Plus protectee protocol and no special maintenance work was carried out. Hours after the circular went viral, the Corporation chief issued a statement ordering that the Assistant Commissioner was relieved from duty. "An explanation has been sought from the assistant commissioner for unilaterally issuing a circular without the approval of senior officials," he said.