Ranchi: Vijaya Jadhav, a 2015 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, who is currently posted in Giridih as the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) and is on additional charge of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Giridih Municipal Corporation (GMC) has been removed from her second post, after she raided an illegal bar where Giridih MLA Nirbhay Shahabadi, Mayor Sunil Paswan, Deputy Mayor Prakash Seth along with ward councilors were having a ‘meeting.’
The letter issued by the Department of Personal, has named Ganesh Kumar, as the Urban Commissioner of GMC on June 11, 2018, who will be taking care of Jadhav’s responsibilities at GMC.
On Thursday night, June the 7th, Jadhav had raided at a restaurant—Zayeka for serving liquor, illegally. During the raid, Giridih MLA, Mayor, Deputy Mayor along with seventeen ward councilors were present at the restaurant.
Out of the six assembly segments of Giridih district, four have MLAs from ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Also, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, who are at the helm of the GMC, are from BJP too, won during the recently conducted Municipal Polls.
The Mayor later claimed that they were not having a booze party but a ‘baithak.’
Post raid, two other MLAs of BJP—Kedar Hazra and Jai Prakash Verma, along with Shahabadi, Mayor and Deputy Mayor organised a press conference. The Mayor had alleged that the raid by CEO was done with the intention of assassinating his character, while Hazra termed it as the officer’s anarchy. They had mentioned about raising the issue with the Chief Minister (Raghubar Das) during the press meet.
On the other hand, the CEO had claimed that she had no idea about those present inside the illegal bar. She also maintained she wasn’t doing moral policing to check who drink liquor or who did not. “If an illegal bar runs, it gives Rs 7500 revenue loss to government everyday and I was getting regular information that Zayeka restaurant was serving liquor to its customer illegally. The area is also sensitive as working women cross the road late at the evening, where the restaurant is located, so I raided soon after getting the information on Thursday night. It is just that the Mayor and others were present at a wrong place, at the wrong time, and there is nothing else,” Jadhav had told eNewsroom.
As the news spread about the PC by BJP MLAs and their intention to remove Jadhav from GMC, several leaders from other political parties along with general public had lent their support for the officer, who had earned the reputation of Lady Singham because of her good work, since she joined Giridih as its SDM and GMC as its in-charge CEO.
The GMC, which was earlier a municipality, has collected revenue of over 10 crores in just five months of Jadhav’s tenure as its CEO.
But, it seems like the Jharkhand government has chose to bow down before the ‘ego’ of BJP MLAs by removing Jadhav from her post. The news of Ganesh Kumar being appointed as the Urban Commissioner, Giridih began doing the rounds on social media, since evening and people were seen expressing their anger against it.
Some have even called for a mass protest on Tuesday to express their anger.
