Jharkhand Minister Saryu Rai also demands removal of CS Verma

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) : Pressure by opposition parties led by leader of opposition and senior JMM  leader Hemant  Soren and JVM leader Pradip Yadav and even by some ruling party leaders led by cabinet minister Saryu Rai is mounting on Jharkhand CM minister Raghubar Das to remove present chief secretary(CS)  Rajbala Verma besides the DGP and ADG, Special Branch.

Opposition leaders remain adamant on their deman for removal of DGP D K Pandey accusing him of  protecting police officers in connection with the alleged fake encounter at village Bakoria in Palamu district in 2017 in which 11 people died. They are demanding ADG, Special Branch, Anurag Gupta’s removal for his alleged role in horse trading during Rajya Sabha polls in 2016 besides removal of  chief secretary  Rajbala Verma in connection with fraudulent withdrawal of hige amount from Chaibasa treasury when she was Deputy Commissioner (DC) there in early nineties  refusing to buy the clarification given by the chief secretary in this matter.

However, the  chief minister  is feeling more uncomfortable with logical points raised by his senior colleague and cabinet minister Saryu Rai who minced no words to point as to how can the present chief secretary Verma say that she was unaware of the fraudulent drawal for which  finance department officers were responsible knowing very well that as per framed rule, the DC is head of District Treasury but the DC was not aware of what was  happening in her office for which she must be immediately sacked.

When contacted on phone  Saryu Rai asserted that  immediate action must be taken against Rajbala Verma who had not bothered to reply to 22 reminders sent to her since last 17 years over this issue. “If some other officer would have done this, the officer might have  been sacked as per framed government rule,” commented Saryu Rai  adding that she should have read rules and regulations set for  IAS before replying and  the chief minister must  immediately remove her from her post.