JANGAON: Jangaon Municipal Commissioner J Rajitha broke down in front of district Collector Ch Shivalingaiah during the Prajavani programme on Monday while narrating how she was being harassed by Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Ch Madhu Mohan for not obliging his demands for the release of funds to pay to workers who did some personal work for him.
The municipal commissioner told the collector that the RDO was not only riding roughshod over her but was insisting that she should take clearances for every action that she intended to take in discharging her duties.
She said that it was probably because she refused to release Rs 30,000 towards payment to workers who did some private work for him. “He wanted me to pass off the private works as municipal works which I did not,” Rajitha told the Collector. “I told him that the civic body cannot spend money on the private works of people. But the RDO insisted that I should pay the workers for the work they had done for him. I have no right to release or sanction the funds. Even then he is trying to intimidate me and confront me. He is very supercilious and discriminates against me since I am a woman,” she said.
The RDO Madhu Mohan also allegedly demanded that she should depute a few municipal workers to work at his official residence which Rajitha had turned down. “The RDO keeps on interfering in my work, asking me to take his permission or clearances for anything that I do,” she said.
When she ordered the demolition of unauthorised constructions in the municipal limits, Madhu Mohan allegedly asked the official why she had not taken permission from him. When contacted, District Collector Shivalingaiah confirmed that the Municipal Commissioner spoke to him and that he had advised her to send a written representation basing on which he could take action.