Maha govt staff asks CM to act strongly against trainee IAS officer, warns of stir

Pune (Maharashtra), July 18 (IANS) In a fresh development, the Maharashtra government’s Class 1 officers and other ranks below on Thursday raised the flag against the behaviour of the controversial IAS-Probationary Officer Dr Puja M.D. Khedkar, and demanded strong action against her failing which they would launch a stir.

A delegation of various unions and associations of the officers from the lowest to the upper echelons -- comprising the backbone of the state administration -- submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde through the Pune Divisional Commissioner.

Detailing Dr Puja’s unruly behaviour during her posting at the Pune Collectorate they have slammed her ‘baseless complaint’ of harassment against Pune Collector Suhas Diwase -- who had sought her transfer from Pune to Washim earlier this month -- and asked her to immediately withdraw it.

“The memorandum listed instances of Dr Puja, along with her father Dilip K. Khedkar threatening the officialdom to pander to her wayward demands for several perks and privileges she was not entitled to as an IAS-PO,” special advisor to the powerful Maharashtra State Revenue Employees Union (MSREU) Vinayak Raut told IANS.

The appeal condemned the manner in which Dr Puja was trying to exploit her status as a woman by making blatantly false allegations against a senior and respected officer like Diwase.

“We have been working with Diwase Sir for over three decades, we know his professional track record, how he treats all of us like a family… A trainee officer cannot make such cheap allegations and we demand that she must withdraw them forthwith,” said other office-bearers to the media later.

They also asked the government to launch stringent counter-proceedings against Dr Puja and her father for their various acts that have sullied the image of the state administration failing which they warned of launching a statewide agitation.

The associations-unions are MSREU, the Maharashtra State Talathi Association, Maharashtra State Tehsildar & Deputy Tehsildar Federation, plus their regional, district and local branches/affiliates, signed by their important office-bearers at various levels.

Some of the officials who went in the delegation to the Divisional Commissionerate included N. D. Malode, Suresh Bagle, Rahul Mundke, Manohar Pote, Balasaheb Wakchaure, Sudhir M. Girme, Sudhir D. Telang, Bajrang K. Mekale, Vaishali Kolekar, and more of other unions-associations-organisations.