Punishment for honesty

The suspension of the young woman IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal ostensibly for ordering the demolition of wall of a mosque by the Akhilesh Yadav government is wrong, but the actual reason behind her suspension is that she acted against the sand mafias in Noida. She has been punished only because she is honest and dutyful. She has been suspended because she acted and sand mafias who have high connections in political circles. Our political executives must not demorlize the upright and honest officer for no fault of his or hers. Durga is an upright and honest officer. She was posted as SDM in Noida. She had become very popular among the people of Noida for cracking down on sand mafia and other wrong doers. As far as Durga’s ordering for the demolition of the wall of the mosque is concerned, she had followed all legal and official processes and its demolition had not created any type of communal tension on the ground if the police report is any thing to go by. Police report has nailed the lie of Akhilesh Yadav government that Durga Shakti Nagpal’s action had created communal tension. On the ground, there is total peace. Supreme Court of India has already ordered that there could neither be any religious structure or the statue of any leader on public places that cause encroachment. So, Durga had not done any thing wrong. She was suspended because of the sand mafias' influence on Akhilesh Yadav govt. against her. Durga’s suspension clearly reflects that there is a deep-nexus between mining mafias of different natural resources and the political leaders in power. Her crackdown on sand mafia in Noida went against her and she had to pay price for her honesty. Though Durga Shakti Nagpal is not only the first upright and honest officer who had been unjustly victimized by the political executives under the influence of mafias, contractors, dealers and traders, there are several others who have met the same fate for being upright and honest. The suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal is a slur on the Akhilesh Yadav government in UP. It is not the UP government only where mafia and traders wield their influences and obstruct the honest officers to carry out their duties smoothly but also similar act is re-enacted in almost all the states. With the huge backing of general people, opposition parties and her IAS Association, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has indicated to give a re-think on Durga’s suspension. Her suspension could not be possible without CM’s consent. This type of incident brings down the morale of the upright and honest officers. It is good that IAS officers in UP has shown solidarity with Durga and they have rallied behind her, who was suspended after she cracked down on the sand mafia. IAS officers have demanded revocation of the order following which the CM promised to look into the issue.