Rajasthan chief secretary Sudhansh Pant is a sensitive officer. With temperature soaring, he has started taking stock of power and water availability in every district. In a one such review meeting of Karauli, Pant gave a piece of his mind to collector Neelabh Saxena, who was on a trip to Kashmir on pretext of some important work at his hometown Lucknow.
The ‘no-nonsense' chief secretary also questioned sensitivity of Saxena and raised concerns over his administrative skills.
What is the issue?
According to reports, Karauli collector Neelabh Saxena was on leave when Pant conducted review of Sawai Madhopur and Karauli district. Saxena was asked to join the review meeting online. When Pant asked him about his location, Saxena told him that he was on a vacation in Kashmir. That upset Pant, who had sanctioned Saxena's leave on pretext of some important work at his home town.
Pant is said to have reprimanded Saxena saying that he (Saxena) had presented wrong reasons for taking leave.
“Had you asked me for leave for going to Kashmir on holidays, I would not have granted you. When people of your district are reeling under scorching heat and water crisis, you are enjoying the cold climate of Kashmir. This shows your irresponsible and pathetic attitude,” Pant is said to have told Saxena.
There were complaints against Saxena in past also
There had been complaints against Saxena in the past also. When he was collector of Rajsamand, a large industrial group complained against his working to the then chief secretary. The group blamed him for causing unnecessary delay in issuing a periodic license – mandatory for functioning of the industry – which is epicentre of Rajsamand's economy.
The industrial group was so perturbed that they once decided to close down their operation putting jobs of thousands in jeopardy.
“Every time, he used to issue the license at the last hour after high level intervention. Even though it was a routine activity which has been taking place since last 5 decades. He will be in our annals for being the only collector to have created fuss in grating a routine license,” said a senior official of that group.
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