Bureaucrats bear brunt of political turmoil in State

Whenever there is political instability it is bureaucrats who either bear the brunt or remain lethargic. At present, authority to transfer top bureaucrats itself has become a tool in the hands of the CM to settle scores with his detractors.

The day the work on massive house construction in Bellary began, Deputy Commissioner B Shivappa was transferred, and in his place Bidar DC Harsh Gupta was brought in. The officers have swapped their places.

The transfers did not stop here. The CM has also transferred Bellary Superintendent of Police Seemanth Kumar and Deputy Conservator of Forests S Muthaiah. Chamarajnagar DCF Bishwajit Mishra has come to Bellary, while Muthaiah has been posted to Chamarajnagar. Railway SP D C Rajappa is the new SP. Seemanth Kumar Singh has been appointed Railway SP.  In addition, Yeddyurappa also removed I R Perumal as Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department. He has brought back Madan Gopal, who was hitherto with Food and Civil Supplies Department.

The CM took decision to transfer the DC, SP and DCF of Bellary on the day the Reddy brothers stepped up their campaign against him. But the orders were issued on Wednesday.

Principal Secretary of Health Department I R Perumal has been replaced by Madan Gopal. Madan Gopal was transferred from Health and Family Welfare Department June this year. Health Minister B Sriramulu had no grouse against Madan Gopal. But Minister Janardhana Reddy reportedly brought Perumal to head the health department.

There were allegations that the DC, SP and DCF of Bellary had been dancing to the tunes of the Bellary Reddys. During the Lok Sabha elections the Congress had demanded the transfer of these bureaucrats. At last the CM seems to have fulfilled their demand.
Rajappa, when he was Additional SP of Bellary a year ago, never got along with the Reddys. Soon after the BJP came to power they were hell-bent on the CM to transfer from the district. Interestingly, this time the CM had chosen Rajappa to replace Seemanth Kumar Singh as SP.

Yeddyurappa, speaking to reporters in Bangalore, termed the transfers as a routine administrative matter. He said there was no need to attribute political reasons to it. Harsh Gupta had been doing a good job as DC of Bidar. He had been posted to Bellary to take up relief works effectively, he claimed.