Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 17 Sep: The recent calamities in Uttarakhand have prompted everyone, from CM and the ministers to the officials, to visit the disaster affected locations and oversee the rescue and restoration operations. However, amidst all this, a video has surfaced and has gone viral in which Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi is seen sharply rebuking District Magistrate, Dehradun, Savin Bansal, who is known to be very proactive officer and as one who never hesitates to be in the field, taking the lead in the operations. Following the emergence of this video, the Congress party has raised questions about the functioning of the government and its ministers.
Severe floods occurred in Dehradun yesterday. Several areas of the district are disaster-affected. All officials and ministers have been touring their respective areas, assessing the condition of disaster-stricken regions and meeting the affected people.
During this, while touring the disaster-affected areas, Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi and Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal suddenly came face to face and Joshi suddenly ‘scolded’ Bansal, the video of which was captured by someone on a mobile phone and made viral.
In the video, as soon as Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal appears, Minister Ganesh Joshi is seen telling Bansal, “Better get your conduct right”. In response, District Magistrate Savin Bansal is seen enquiring what happened, to which Ganesh Joshi replied, “The Chief Secretary attended the phone at night. Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar picked up the phone. The SDM took the phone, but when I called the Chief Minister this morning, the Sahib took the call.”
Following this, District Magistrate Savin Bansal greeted Minister Ganesh Joshi with a ‘Namaste’ and left the place without saying anything further.
After this video surfaced, media persons tried to contact Ganesh Joshi but failed. It is worth noting that Ganesh Joshi is a Cabinet Minister in the Dhami government and has also been a legislator from Mussoorie for the past three terms and before that he was the legislator from Rajpur constituency.
This is not the first such incident in Uttarakhand. Earlier too, several cases of leaders rebuking officials have come to light in Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, allegations are frequently levelled against officials that they do not listen to public representatives. The Congress party has questioned this type of incident, asking whom officials should prioritise between disaster management and the problems of the public – should they help the public or keep observing all these matters.
Meanwhile, in Pauri Garhwal, a situation of conflict was also seen developing among departmental officials. District Magistrate Swati Bhadoria, frustrated by the persistent neglect of road repair in Srinagar despite repeated warnings, is learnt to have ordered a police case against officials of the PWD after flash floods washed away the entire stretch owing to unaddressed maintenance. In retaliation, the PWD’s Executive Engineer and staff staged a protest against the action, in an another sign of friction between field officials and district authorities during the crisis.
