Journalism of Courage
The BSP Friday demanded that the Centre and Governor B L Joshi should intervene to stay the arbitrary suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal,former sub-divisional magistrate of Noida,by the state government.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Swami Prasad Maurya said the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Narendra Bhati that he got Nagpal suspended in 41 minutes clearly indicates that the officer was suspended by the government because of pressure from the mining mafia.
He said while Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav says the officer was suspended to avert the possibility of a communal flare-up because of the razing of a mosques boundary wall,the district magistrate in his report has said that Nagpal had not given any such order and that she was also not present when the incident happened.
Maurya said the CM should clarify whichof the three Bhati,DM or the CM himself is speaking the truth. He said the government should make sure that action be taken against whoever is lying.
He said as the state government is not clarifying on the issue,the Centre and the Governor should intervene.
Maurya further said the CMs statement that Nagpal was suspended to avert the possibility of any communal tension is ludicrous,as there has been about hundred big and small riots in the state since the SP came to power. No SP or DIG was even transferred by the government,he added.
Meanwhile,Nagpal Friday met Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani and Secretary to Chief Minister Anita Singh to present her case in the controversy over her presence during the demolition of the wall of the mosque in Kadalpur village.
A senior officer said while Nagpal will get a chance to explain her side in writing after she is served the chargesheet. She had requested for an opportunity to personally narrate the series of events that took place on July 27.
The Congress sought to play it safe on the issue. The party disapproved the arbitrary demolitionof a mosque wall the reason cited by the Akhilesh government for her suspension but at the same time said the honest officer has been punished for going against the sand mafia.
With agency inputs
