The Hindu : Karnataka News : Top officials of Bellary district transferred

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Karnataka

Top officials of Bellary district transferred

Karnataka Bureau

Yeddyurappa terms it ‘routine administrative step’

Chief Minister rules out Cabinet reshuffle
‘No differences in taking up rehabilitation work’

BANGALORE/Bellary: Three top officials of Bellary district — the Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Conservator of Forests — have been transferred out of the district even as the differences between Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and the Bellary Ministers has widened.

In a fast paced development, the officials concerned who were reportedly told late on Tuesday that they would be shunted out of the district were on Wednesday given the transfer orders and those posted in their places were directed to take charge with immediate effect. Those transferred were Deputy Commissioner B. Shivappa, Superintendent of Police Seemanth Kumar Singh and Deputy Conservator of Forests S. Muthaiah. Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, I.R. Perumal has also been transferred, and Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, Madan Gopal will take his place.

Deputy Commissioner of Bidar Harsh Gupta will be the new Deputy Commissioner of Bellary; D.C. Rajappa, Superintendent of Police (Railways), Bangalore, has been posted as SP, Bellary; and Bishwajit Mishra, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chamarajanagar, has been shifted to Bellary.

Addressing presspersons, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa asserted that there were no differences in taking up rehabilitation work in the flood-affected districts of north Karnataka and termed the transfer of four top officials of Bellary district administration as a “routine administrative measure”. The Chief Minister has also ruled out the reshuffle in the State Cabinet.

He said the transfer of top officials of Bellary district will have no adverse impact on the execution of rehabilitation work. There is no connection between transfers and development work in the State, he said.

On Wednesday, the Bellary Ministers, led by Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy and Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy launched the “Navagrama” programme to build houses for people who lost them in recent floods in Matur and T.S. Kudlur villages in Siruguppa taluk of Bellary.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said a “good” IAS officer Harsha Gupta had been appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Bellary district in place of Mr. Shivappa.

To a question on the housing programme launched under leadership of Mr. Karunakara Reddy in Bellary, Mr. Yeddyurappa said Mr. Karunakara Reddy is a Minister in the Government and he has equal say in taking up rehabilitation work. The housing programme would be launched at least in 100 places in the next 15 days, the Chief Minister said.

Earlier, Minister for Home V.S. Acharya and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs S. Suresh Kumar met Legislative Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar. Dr. Acharya said the meeting was a courtesy call.

This is the first time that the Government had resorted to “wholesale” transfer of senior officials from Bellary. Harsh Gupta had served as the zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer in Bellary earlier while D.C. Rajappa had worked here as Additional SP. The transfer of top officials of the district is seen as a direct fallout of the differences between the Reddy brothers and the Chief Minister.

Of the three Ministers who participated in the “bhoomi puja” for the construction of “Navagrama” to rehabilitate the victims of the flood-prone villages in Siruguppa taluk on Wednesday, it was only Mr. Janardhana Reddy who referred to the transfers of senior officials while addressing a public meeting, and opined that Dalit officers were being targeted.

The three Ministers then left for Bellary without talking to presspersons who were waiting to seek their reaction in this regard.

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