UP government draws flak for suspending woman IAS officer

The row over the suspension of the woman IAS officer, who had cracked down on illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar (Greater Noida) district, escalated further, with the IAS association coming out in support of the young officer and opposition parties decrying the action against her.

The association’s office-bearers on Monday met officiating UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan and demanded the immediate revocation of Durga Shakti Nagpal's suspension. The woman IAS officer, too, met the senior UP officer, seeking her reinstatement.

Ranjan assured the IAS association office-bearers that he would apprise Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was away on a visit to Karnataka, about the their feelings. The opposition parties had decried the government’s decision to suspend Nagpal. Akhilesh Yadav, however, had defended the suspension saying that “sometimes tough decisions have to be taken”.

According to sources, however, Yadav could consider reinstating the officer given the resentment prevailing among the IAS officers about the way Nagpal had been treated
The IAS association said the officer had been “excessively punished”.

"She could have been warned if she had committed any mistake or there was laxity on her part... Suspension was not correct,” they said.

Nagpal, who was the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of GB Nagar district (Greater Noida), had sent the sand mafia in the district scurrying for cover and had registered as many as 26 FIRs within a period of one week and arrested 15 people.