In what comes as an apparent tussle between Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in Karnataka, Mysuru city corporation commissioner Shilpa Nag on Thursday resigned from her post alleging harassment by Rohini Sindhuri, her senior and the deputy commissioner of the district, over coronavirus disease (Covid-19) management. In a press conference announcing her resignation, Nag said, “There is no conducive atmosphere for me to discharge my duties. No one should ever face a situation like this.”
Rejecting the allegation of harassment as untrue, deputy commissioner of Mysuru district Rohini Sindhuri said, “The Mysuru City Corporation was submitting unsigned and contradictory ward-wise COVID-19 figures on new cases, deaths and active cases. I had ordered that same be rectified.”
Sindhuri also said that Nag had of late stopped attended coronavirus review meetings convened by her.
“How can these measures be construed as harassment? None of this constitutes harassment by any stretch of the imagination,” she added.
According to Sindhuri, Nag had been speaking against the district administration in the press for the past several days, in conduct unbecoming of her.
Sindhuri further alleged that the city corporation under Nag was utilising the entire CSR funding from private industries even though the money was meant to be used for the entire district. This had started to happen after the MCC commissioner was made in charge of the CSR funds.
“In this regard, I only asked her to furnish details of the account till June 1 and I have not received any reply till now… to give almost nothing to taluks and rural areas is unfair and wrong,” the Mysuru DC said.
Meanwhile, Mysuru district in-charge minister ST Somashekhar said that he will travel to Mysuru on Friday and speak to Nag over the matter. The minister said efforts would be made to convince Nag to continue in her post.
“Before leaving for Mysuru, I will speak with Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa to apprise him about the whole issue,” he said.
For the record, Sindhuri is a 2009 batch IAS officer, while Nag belongs to the 2014 batch.