Most elected representatives back Nag; Mysureans disapprove such stand

Even as the rift between two women IAS officers of Mysuru reached its peak on Thursday, with Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag offering to resign, accusing Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri of high-handedness, most of the people’s representatives have thrown their weight behind the former.

However, a section of the citizens are against projection of the support of people’s representatives to one of the officer, as the support of the entire population of Mysuru district.

H Raghavendra, a retired lecturer, said, "We might have voted a particular politician, in the absence of a better option. That does not mean that their opinion can be imposed on us. One should understand that if all politicians, except some exception like MLA G T Devegowda, are supporting a particular person, it implies that they are ‘ganging’ up against the other person.”

Raghavendra said that if the MCC commissioner has resigned, the basic question should be, where is the resignation letter?

J B Rangaswamy, a retired deputy commissioner of police, said, “Even though complaining against a senior officer is not wrong, bringing caste and language reference in public cannot be justified. One should understand that if the government finds fault, in managing the Covid pandemic, the DC, the overall in-charge of the district, will be held responsible and not the MCC Commissioner, whose jurisdiction is limited to the city. So, if a higher officer tries to extract work, it should not be described as harassment.”

“The phrase used by the MCC commissioner, ‘There should not be such a DC for any district’ sounds like borrowed words of a politician. Regarding mental torture, the MCC commissioner had a lot of options to air her grievances, to her higher officials. As the DC has no powers to initiate any action against the MCC commissioner, her fear and taking the extreme step of resigning gives rise to suspicion,” Rangaswamy said.

“Strangely, ever since the DC took charge on September 29, 2020, she is under attack by various politicians. Some of them were personal comments. She was insulted for following the Covid protocol and wearing mask in a meeting. There were attempts to fix her for the Covid deaths in a neighbouring district. Now, the issue of constructing a swimming pool on the premises of the official residence of the DC, Jalasannidi, has been raised. The proposal was a few years old and was approved during her tenure. If she has used or misused Covid funds for its construction, she should be punished,” Rangaswamy said.

S Prabhamani, president of Sevayana, running an old age home, said that if the DC has erred, there is a system in the government, to address it. “Defaming a fellow officer through the media cannot be justified. If the commissioner was harassed, she could have complained to her higher officers, with proper evidence. How can somebody offer to resign as a top bureaucrat?” she asked.

"It is unfortunate that the people’s representatives are projecting their personal opinion as people’s opinion, to target an official at a time she is under pressure, managing the Covid crisis," Prabhamani said.