Jaipur: The IAS officers of Rajasthan have condemned the behaviour of Panchayat Raj minister Ramesh Meena who in a meeting publicly chided Bikaner district collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal for not paying attention to the issues he was raising and was preoccupied with the phone.
The IAS association of the state has written a letter to CM Ashok Gehlot requesting him to take note of such repeated incidents and urged for a public condemnation to restore the morale of civil servants. The officers have met Chief Secretary Usha Sharma also regarding this.
Despiteful remarks for Collector Alwar earlier
The secretary of the IAS Association Dr Samit Sharma has said in the letter that the same minister made despiteful remarks for Collector Alwar as well. ‘Such behaviour is condemnable and unacceptable. Such repeated incidents not only demoralize the bureaucracy but also tarnishes the image of the government and adversely impact administrative performance,’ reads the letter.
The IAS Association has said that the minister made derogatory remarks about the Collector while he was discharging his duty in an official capacity. ‘Passing such remarks simply to generate publicity and media controversy does not solve any genuine issue that may exist,’ said the association.
Reacting to the letter of IAS Association Minister Ramesh Meena said ‘there was no such special incident. The IAS Association and some other people are presenting it in a distorted manner. We were asking the Collector to answer some questions but he was not paying attention, so he was asked to leave the meeting.’
Notably, the said incident happened in Bikaner on Monday during a meeting regarding the Rajivika Scheme of the government. Minister Ramesh Meena was addressing the meeting and was saying something regarding the Collector’s responsibilities. During this, the Collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal had to take a call on the mobile. The minister got annoyed with this and asked the Collector to go out of the meeting.
