Officers should let go of their ego and resume work: AAP

NEWDELHI: A day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that governance in Delhi took a hit with officers skipping key meetings in protest against an alleged attack on the chief secretary, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appealed to the bureaucrats on Saturday to resume normal work so that people of Delhi don’t have to suffer.

“Why should people of Delhi suffer in the fight between Delhi government and bureaucracy? The law will take its own course over allegations made by chief secretary. The officers should not make it a matter of ego. They should resume work and not let people suffer any more,” AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said in a press conference.

Kejriwal on Friday submitted a list of meetings which officers did not attend to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. “L-G assured he will take all steps to ensure officers started functioning normally. Council of ministers assured him cooperation,” he had tweeted.

Joint Forum of Delhi Government Officers and Employees Association, however, denied that work was being affected.the forum also resolved to continue work only through formal written means of communication with the political executives.

The bureaucracy has even sought apology from the government in the chief secretary episode.

“Why would we apologise? The matter is being investigated. And then our minister and a senior leader were also heckled. Have Delhi police arrested anyone for that,” said AAP leader Ashutosh.

The showdown between AAP

government and its bureaucracy started on Tuesday when chief secretary Anshu Prakash alleged that he was beaten up by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and others during a meeting . Hours after the allegation, AAP released a video in which its minister Imran Hussain and chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission Ashish Khetan were ‘heckled’.

The matter escalated on Friday morning when Delhi Police visited Kejriwal’s residence and seized hard disks containing recordings of 21 CCTV cameras.

The party also alleged that the police commissioner could not find time to meet its leader.“we tried to reach out to police commissioner directly and also through his staff. But he did not respond,” Ashutosh said.