Vijay Deo Jha
Ranchi, Mar 22: The alleged impolite bureaucracy and state police have once again left a bad taste in the mouth of MLAs of Jharkhand. Former deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto and many other MLAs are said to have been discourteously treated during the dinner party hosted by Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais on Monday evening at the Raj Bhawan.
The matter was raised from the treasury bench by Jaimangal Singh alias Anoop Singh of the Congress during the Zero Hour of the budget session of the assembly.
“We were invited to a dinner at the Raj Bhawan. I felt bad and humiliated. No proper sitting arrangement was made for the MLAs. The four-time MLA and deputy CM Sudesh Mahto, besides Irfan Ansari and Lambodar Mahto, had no place to sit in. They sat along with other civilians. This was unfortunate,” Jaimangal Singh said.
He said their humiliation did not stop here. After the dinner was over and the Governor and the Chief Minister left the venue, they were made to wait for 10 minutes by traffic inspector Ramesh Giri. “Our vehicle was stopped to clear the traffic for ADG M.L. Meena who was coming to the Raj Bhawan. Whose ego is being satisfied? Is he above the legislators? I do respect him (Meena) and touch his feet when I meet him privately. But here at the Raj Bhawan, it was an official programme,” he said.
He said that ministers have the luxury to enter the Raj Bhawan premise through gate number 1. But when MLAs visit the Raj Bhavan through gate number 3 no officials on duty at the gate welcome and greet them.
Sharing his concerns and pain, Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto said that such a treatment with MLAs would not be tolerated. “I will surely write to top officials of the government to make them know that MLAs are hurt over the behaviour of their subordinates and they must be instructed to improve their behaviour,” the Speaker said.
Former minister and BJP senior CP Singh intervened in the matter and asked Jaimangal Singh whether ML Meena deserved Jaimangal Singh touching his feet even privately.
“Meena pair chhone layak hai? Wah ghatia aadmi hai,” said CP Singh. He claimed that he had once requested Meena to transfer a cop to Ranchi so that he takes care of his mentally challenged son. He said that Meena later on called that cop to his office and threatened him for getting his transfer with the help of any minister. “And that is why I call him ghatia,” he said.
“You have brought a man as Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi. He is the same person who had chopped trees in Koderma when he was posted there. Once I had requested him for the gun license of a person. He took Rs three lakh to issue the gun license,” CP Singh said.
He asked the Assembly Speaker to stop telling every time that he would write a letter to the officials. He said that officials have made it a habit to ignore the House and the executive should be made responsible.
BJP MLA Neelkanth Singh Munda demanded the House to pass a censure motion against insolent bureaucracy. However, JMM MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu objected to CP Singh naming Meena and said the same should be expunged. Congress’ Amba Prasad rose in support of Jaimangal Singh and said that she was also ill-treated by the Deoghar SDO but no action was taken so far.
