Delhi CS attends 1st meet after assault

New Delhi: A week after the alleged assault by AAP MLAs, chief secretary Anshu Prakash attended a Cabinet meeting to finalise dates for the Delhi Assembly’s Budget Session, breaking the ongoing deadlock between the city government and the bureaucracy.

Lieutenant- governor ( LG) Anil Baijal on Tuesday said that the alleged assault on the chief secretary by AAP MLAs at the residence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent shock waves among all sections of government employees across the country and has had a demoralising effect on the entire bureaucracy.

Mr Baijal, in a letter to Mr Kejriwal, said that during his meetings with various service associations he felt that the government employees in Delhi were feeling physically insecure.

“The unfortunate incident of alleged misbehaviour and physical assault on the chief secretary ( Anshu Prakash) at the residence of the chief minister by the elected

MLAs was unprecedented and has had a demoralising effect on the entire bureaucracy. This incident has sent shock waves through all sections of government employees in not only Delhi but also in the entire country,” Mr Baijal said in the letter.

According to a statement issued by the Raj Niwas, the L- G has met various service associations.

“The impression he received from these meetings was that now the government employees in Delhi feel physically insecure, sadly in the very presence of those who have been elected to uphold democracy and rule of law. He observed that there was a need to introspect how this deplorable state of affairs has developed,” the statement said.

The communication from the L- G came following a request by deputy CM Manish Sisodia asking him to order bureaucrats to resume work, asserting that if service matters were under the government’s ambit, “rule of law” would have been followed.