Kancha Gachibowli land row: TGIIC officials to be made scapegoats?

A few senior officials are likely to be transferred or suspended accusing them of failing to study pros and cons before destroying the biodiversity

Hyderabad: After suffering a setback in the Kancha Gachibowli land issue, the Congress government is now trying to wash its hands off the fiasco and pass the blame on to officials of the Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC). There is talk in the Secretariat corridors that a couple of senior officials from the TGIIC are likely to be transferred or suspended and made scapegoats in the issue.

To justify its action, the government wants to blame the officials by stating that they had failed in assessing the entire situation in advance. More particularly, the officials are likely to be pushed to the wall accusing them of failing to study the pros and cons before felling the trees and destroying the biodiversity in the contentious lands.

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Call it a new diversion tactic of the Congress government or a desperate measure, but these plans are not going down well with the employees. Citing the protests by Lagacherla farmers, agitations against HYDRAA demolitions and other debacles, employees argue that they could not be held responsible for the government’s decisions.

“At the end of the day, as employees, we follow orders and deliver things. Just to save their skin from the entire fiasco, employees cannot be made scapegoats,” said an office-bearer of the Joint Action Committee of Telangana Employees, Gazetted Officers, Teachers, Workers and Pensioners.

This is not an isolated case. In the past too, the employees, especially IAS officers, have been targeted by the current regime.

At a book launch programme in February, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy wanted IAS officers to change their attitude of “creating hurdles” and “causing inconvenience”, besides writing “negative comments” on files. The Chief Minister had even alleged that despite instructions, a few IAS officers were not stepping out of their air-conditioned chambers and said he was clueless as to which direction the system was heading in.

Amidst all this, Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari had to bear the brunt when the matter reached the court. Taking a serious view of the entire controversy, the Supreme Court had even questioned the Chief Secretary over the urgency in felling trees. With Santhi Kumari set to retire this month end, uncertainty looms over whether she would be given an extension for a few more months. All through her career, the Chief Secretary has a reputation of maintaining a clean record but the Kancha Gachibowli lands row left her in a spot of bother.