A day after the removal of Rural Development Secretary Arun at the diktat of Rural Development Minister K N Tripathi, several skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard to expose the real reasons behind the action at the fag end of the Hemant Government's tenure.
Officials recounted several reasons behind the sudden marching orders of Arun, who was otherwise in the good book of the State Government. He has been posted as the Secretary in the Mines and Geology department, an important portfolio held by the Chief Minister.
Tripathi had replaced Chandrashekhar Dubey in March this year. He, like other Ministers, knew it very well that he had a very short tenure to 'achieve' everything given the term of the Assembly coming to end in December when he will face elections.
According to sources, the Secretary was not on the same page with the Minister over several issues which the former considered as "illegal" and "violative of the system".
To cite an example, a source said that out of 49,701 Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) units allocated by the Central Government to Jharkhand during the current fiscal, the Minister allotted 8,000 to Palamu and out of the 8,000, 7,000 units were to be constructed in his constituency, Daltonganj alone. The concerned file was processed when the Secretary was on election duty outside the State in May.
When he joined, he opposed it and referred the issue to the Chief Minister.
It was not the sole reason, however.
The Minister, according to sources, wanted several blocks created in the State. For once, Arun obliged him and sent the file directly to the Cabinet for its approval without holding consultation with the finance and other departments, for creating infrastructure, assessing requirement of personnel etc. But the then Finance Secretary A P Singh put his foot down and opposed the move. The proposal was put on hold.
But the Minister is said to have had posted two block development officers even before the said blocks were officially created in Palamu by the State Government.
"No Government on the earth will ever take such a decision," commented an official.
But it was not all. The Minister's private secretary Raj Paul Bhagria even issued a suspension order of a block development officer in Garhwa district. The deputy commissioner is said to have readily acted on the PA's order and relieved the BDO.
It so happened that the State Government had decided to hold a one-week "Adhikar Shivir" from May 19 to May 25 at the block level to educate the general public about the social security and other welfare schemes of the Government. The rural development department was given the responsibility to organize the camps in association with the labour and Panchayati Raj departments, all the three portfolios held by Tripathi.
Bhagria wrote to the Secretary that during the Minister's visit on May 19, Shashi Bhushan Verma, the BDO of Dandai in Garhwa district, had not care to set up the camp.
The Minister concluded that Verma had violated the Government orders and put him under suspension with immediate effect and put the block under the additional charge of Meral BDO Shravan Ram. The PA asked the Secretary to issue the suspension order.
Ironically, according to sources, when the department began to follow the Minister's PA's diktat, Tripathi himself came to Verma's rescue.
Tripathi could not be contacted, neither did he respond to an SMS. Arun also refused to take a phone call, saying he was busy preparing files for tomorrow's Cabinet meeting.
The story of Minister's tantrums is endless. But is anybody listeningIJ