With the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal evoking strong reaction from all quarters, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday offered the suspended IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh to come back to her original cadre of Punjab.
The offer comes days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi took up the issue of suspension with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Samajwadi Party hardening its stand justifying its decision. Inviting the suspended IAS officer to return to her original State cadre, Deputy Chief Minister welcomed her to Punjab if she wanted to return to the State. "If she wants to come to Punjab she is most welcome…she went from Punjab," said Sukhbir.
"We are inviting her to join her original State cadre of Punjab. We will be more than happy to welcome such an honest and brave officer here," he added. The 28-year-old 2009 batch IAS officer Durga Shakti's cadre was changed after she got married to Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer Abhishek Singh. A native of Mohali, she is in news for her crackdown on sand mining mafia in Uttar Pardesh and subsequent action by the government of that State.
She was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government July 29 on the charges that she ordered the demolition of a mosque wall which could have led to communal tensions in the State — accusations completely denied by Shakti. At the same time as her suspension led to public outcry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the Parliament that rules that have been laid down will be followed in her case. In fact, the Congress MP from ludhiana and the Union Minister Manish Tewari backed the Uttar Pradesh IAS officer for her crackdown on the sand mining mafia, while maintaining that "officers like Nagpal are needed in the State to curb the malpractice". "We wish we had a few officers like Nagpal in Punjab, where a lot of illegal mining is going on," Tewari said in New Delhi.