Govt approves VRS request of controversial ex-DPH

Hyderabad: The State government on Monday approved the voluntary retirement request by the controversial officer from the Telangana Public Health Department, Dr Gadala Srinivasa Rao. He was in the news for several controversial comments, including political ones, during his tenure as the Director of Public Health.

In an order on Monday, the government, after careful examination of the matter, permitted Dr G Srinivasa Rao, Additional District Public Health Officer/Joint Director (IH), O/o Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, Telangana, to retire on a voluntary basis from the government service on August 8, 2024.

The voluntary retirement shall be in terms of Rule 43 of the Telangana State Revised Pension Rules, 1980, without prejudice to the disciplinary cases and recovery dues to the government, if any, or arising in the future against him.

Rao has been in the news for his political ambitions. He had aspired to contest elections from Kothagudem from the BRS party. He had also made political comments against the local MLA. He had said there should be a retirement age in politics. The Forum for Good Governance had also demanded action against Rao for his controversial comments that Corona was controlled by State because of the grace of God (Jesus) and not because of the vaccination programme of the government. He had also stated that he had grown up under the influence of naxalites.

The FGG had said that during Iftar dinner, after offering Namaz along with Muslim brothers Rao, he stated that in his childhood he got an injury. When taken to the hospital, the doctors expressed concern and opined that only God can help. Thereafter, his grandfather took him to a mosque where a moulana had tied a ‘Tayath’. In a few days, the wound healed, and he recovered; he is in the post of director because of the divine power of Tayath, he claimed.