Mass transfers make IAS officers vulnerable: Congress

Hanamkonda: The State government has sent wrong signals to the public by transferring four, out of five District Collectors at a time in erstwhile Warangal district, noted former chief whip G Venkata Ramana Reddy.

Denial to give work contracts to TRS leaders on nomination basis for Medaram jatara arrangements was the reason behind Bhupalpally Collector A Murali’s transfer, he alleged. His action of calling work tenders for jatara works instead of allocating works on nomination might have angered the TRS bosses, he said.

Similarly, the transfer of district collectors of Mahabubabad and Jangaon took place as the ruling party MLAs and leaders were discontented with them as the officials were not acting to their whims and fancies, Ramana Reddy told presspersons here on Friday.

The Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, seems to caution the officials that they would be subjected to reprisal if they failed to listen to the ruling party MLAs and leaders. His action of transferring officials on mass scale and giving them loop-line posts was wrong, the Congress leader said.

Now even an ordinary TRS worker might threaten an IAS official and one could understand the fate of other officials, Ramana Reddy said maintaining that during Congress regime the district collectors and other district level officials were given freedom to work and never pressurised or bullied.

But in the TRS’s rule the things have been reversed, he said. If the CM wants to improve the image of the government, he should direct his ministers to visit villages and monitor development works. It was not correct to target the officers for working honestly to help the people, Ramana Reddy advised.

While strongly objecting the transfer of Bhupalpally Collector ahead of historic Medaram jatara, Ramana Reddy wanted the government either to retain Murali or to appoint a special official to monitor jatara works. 

He wanted the ministers of Rural Water Supply, Endowments, Transport, Tribal Departments and the Deputy Chief Minister to visit Medaram to review the progress of works immediately as the jatara was scheduled to begin on January 31.

The Congress leader alleged that law and order situation in the State was failing. The incident of looting a biker in broad day light in Hyderabad and killing of a villager by sand mafia at Kamareddy proves the fact, he added. Ex-MLA P Veeraiah, TPCC general secretary Namindla Srinivas, and its secretary Gandra Jyothi, leaders J Raghava Reddy, Veesam Surender Reddy and others were present.