Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup
The suspension of young I.A.S. lady officer Durga Shakti Nagpal has created a huge furore across India as highly unjust and revealing of the deadly sway of the political- mafia nexus that has taken a strangle hold of the public space in the country. The general public, media and the intelligentsia are all indignant over the blatantly brazen action against an young lady officer who valiantly went about doing her duty most conscientiously. All that she did was the commendable deed of holding the criminal sand mafia dons of the N.C.R. Region of Uttar Pradesh by the scruff of their neck.
Most of the sand-mining activity in the NCR region, comprising Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Faridabad (Haryana) and Delhi, is illegal it is estimated that about 250 to 350 truckloads of sand is illegally dredged every day. The cost of this sand varies from 100 crore (US$17 million) per month[15] to 500 crore (US$85 million) per annum. Ms.Nagpal was the S.D.M of Gautam Budh Nagar district, the major locale of the mining. It now transpires that the UP Chief Minister's office in Lucknow itself had asked the GB Nagar district administration to prevent further illegal activity. Ms. Nagpal, the SDM, merely followed the order in letter and spirit.
Under Ms. Nagpal, a joint operation involving the revenue, police and transport departments was launched and villages of Asgarpur, Nangla Wajidpur, Gulavli, Kambakshpur, Jaganpur Chaproli were monitored.Since April 2013, the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed 17 FIRs and in 22 cases, the Chief Judicial magistrates had ordered the arrest of illegal sand miners. From April to June 2013, the police had impounded 297 vehicles and machinery used for illegal mining and collected Rs 82.34 lakh in fines.
This was too much for the sand mafia who had all these years had carried on their illegal activities with total impunity with the help of the politicians under their pay roll On 25 July, the government transferred the mining officer of the Gautam Budh Nagar district Ashish Kumar to Bulandshahr. He was assisting Ms. Nagpal in the administrative crackdown.[27] Before being transferred, Kumar survived three attempts on his life, the last one was on 9 February 2013. Ms. Nagpal was also targeted on April 26 2013, during a visit to the Kasna police station. These attacks were attributed to the sand mafia operating in the district
Ms. Nagpal was suspended on 28 July 2013, ostensibly for a cooked up charge of demolishing the outer boundary wall of a mosque after she inspected the under-construction mosque in Kadalpur village, in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida . The construction of the mosque had not been cleared by the state government which in any case was in govt. land. It is alleged that Samajwadi party leader Narendra Bhati, who has cabinet-minister rank was frustrated by the drive against illegal mining and was reportedly responsible for getting her abruptly suspended. Later Narendra Bhati was recorded on video boasting about getting the officer suspended within 40 minutes.
The Samajwadi Party government said in a statement that Ms. Nagpal was suspended for demolishing a mosque's wall and the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav justified the order saying that Nagpal's actions "lacked foresight and disturbed communal harmony" and she was suspended due to "administrative compulsion to ease communal tension". This was later refuted by reports that the area had not reported any communal tension. The Station Officer of Rabupura police station said that since the demolition took place in night, most residents were not even aware of the incident. The demolition was reportedly executed in compliance to Supreme Court orders forbidding construction of illegal religious structures on public land. The court, in a judgement passed in 2009 had ruled that "no new temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras can be constructed on public parks, public streets and public spaces" and "the ban must be enforced even if it gave rise to a law and order problem.
According to the report on the demolition incident submitted by the Ravikant Singh, District Magistrate (DM) of Greater Noida to the UP government, Ms. Nagpal did not demolish a wall of any religious structure, in fact there was no religious structure in place. The construction of the wall had just begun, and on being warned by Ms. Nagpal of the structure being constructed on government land, the local residents decided to dismantle the constructed wall themselves. The report called Nagpal's actions "blemish-free".[56] The report also says that there was no communal tension or the possibility of any clashes between religious communities.[24] The UP government has appointed a committee to verify the DM’s report.
The persecution of Ms. Nagpal raises several pertinent issues. Politics and politicians are turning dirty. Whistle blowers and honest officers are being muzzled for mafia's benefit. Govt. is going to the extent of ignoring the rule of law to protect the criminals, and the politicians will not hesitate to fan communal and cast-based sentiments to harass any honest officer. Rightly,The All India IAS Association, a national body of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers has demanded immediate revocation of her suspension, and had called the incident "demoralising" for young IAS officers. On 1st August, in a rare act, thousands of IAS officers filed a petition to the Department of personnel and training, demanding intervention by the Central government to direct the UP government to revoke Durga's suspension. And what you expect of the UPA govt.? Home Minister, Mr. Shinde's reaction was to the effect: "servants should obey the masters'. Can you imagine a more foot- in-the mouth statement!
Mining and Muzzling A Whistle Blower
The suspension of young I.A.S. lady officer Durga Shakti Nagpal has created a huge furore across India as highly unjust and revealing of the deadly sway of the political- mafia nexus that has taken a strangle hold of the public space in the country. The general public, media and the intelligentsia are all indignant over the blatantly brazen action against an young lady officer who valiantly went about doing her duty most conscientiously. All that she did was the commendable deed of holding the criminal sand mafia dons of the N.C.R. Region of Uttar Pradesh by the scruff of their neck.
Most of the sand-mining activity in the NCR region, comprising Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Faridabad (Haryana) and Delhi, is illegal it is estimated that about 250 to 350 truckloads of sand is illegally dredged every day. The cost of this sand varies from 100 crore (US$17 million) per month[15] to 500 crore (US$85 million) per annum. Ms.Nagpal was the S.D.M of Gautam Budh Nagar district, the major locale of the mining. It now transpires that the UP Chief Minister's office in Lucknow itself had asked the GB Nagar district administration to prevent further illegal activity. Ms. Nagpal, the SDM, merely followed the order in letter and spirit.
Under Ms. Nagpal, a joint operation involving the revenue, police and transport departments was launched and villages of Asgarpur, Nangla Wajidpur, Gulavli, Kambakshpur, Jaganpur Chaproli were monitored.Since April 2013, the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed 17 FIRs and in 22 cases, the Chief Judicial magistrates had ordered the arrest of illegal sand miners. From April to June 2013, the police had impounded 297 vehicles and machinery used for illegal mining and collected Rs 82.34 lakh in fines.
This was too much for the sand mafia who had all these years had carried on their illegal activities with total impunity with the help of the politicians under their pay roll On 25 July, the government transferred the mining officer of the Gautam Budh Nagar district Ashish Kumar to Bulandshahr. He was assisting Ms. Nagpal in the administrative crackdown.[27] Before being transferred, Kumar survived three attempts on his life, the last one was on 9 February 2013. Ms. Nagpal was also targeted on April 26 2013, during a visit to the Kasna police station. These attacks were attributed to the sand mafia operating in the district
Ms. Nagpal was suspended on 28 July 2013, ostensibly for a cooked up charge of demolishing the outer boundary wall of a mosque after she inspected the under-construction mosque in Kadalpur village, in the Rabupura area of Greater Noida . The construction of the mosque had not been cleared by the state government which in any case was in govt. land. It is alleged that Samajwadi party leader Narendra Bhati, who has cabinet-minister rank was frustrated by the drive against illegal mining and was reportedly responsible for getting her abruptly suspended. Later Narendra Bhati was recorded on video boasting about getting the officer suspended within 40 minutes.
The Samajwadi Party government said in a statement that Ms. Nagpal was suspended for demolishing a mosque's wall and the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav justified the order saying that Nagpal's actions "lacked foresight and disturbed communal harmony" and she was suspended due to "administrative compulsion to ease communal tension". This was later refuted by reports that the area had not reported any communal tension. The Station Officer of Rabupura police station said that since the demolition took place in night, most residents were not even aware of the incident. The demolition was reportedly executed in compliance to Supreme Court orders forbidding construction of illegal religious structures on public land. The court, in a judgement passed in 2009 had ruled that "no new temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras can be constructed on public parks, public streets and public spaces" and "the ban must be enforced even if it gave rise to a law and order problem.
According to the report on the demolition incident submitted by the Ravikant Singh, District Magistrate (DM) of Greater Noida to the UP government, Ms. Nagpal did not demolish a wall of any religious structure, in fact there was no religious structure in place. The construction of the wall had just begun, and on being warned by Ms. Nagpal of the structure being constructed on government land, the local residents decided to dismantle the constructed wall themselves. The report called Nagpal's actions "blemish-free".[56] The report also says that there was no communal tension or the possibility of any clashes between religious communities.[24] The UP government has appointed a committee to verify the DM’s report.
The persecution of Ms. Nagpal raises several pertinent issues. Politics and politicians are turning dirty. Whistle blowers and honest officers are being muzzled for mafia's benefit. Govt. is going to the extent of ignoring the rule of law to protect the criminals, and the politicians will not hesitate to fan communal and cast-based sentiments to harass any honest officer. Rightly,The All India IAS Association, a national body of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers has demanded immediate revocation of her suspension, and had called the incident "demoralising" for young IAS officers. On 1st August, in a rare act, thousands of IAS officers filed a petition to the Department of personnel and training, demanding intervention by the Central government to direct the UP government to revoke Durga's suspension. And what you expect of the UPA govt.? Home Minister, Mr. Shinde's reaction was to the effect: "servants should obey the masters'. Can you imagine a more foot- in-the mouth statement!
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