Hyderabad: IAS officers and other bureaucrats getting into trouble due to their loose-tongue has become quite frequent these days. Whether it was former CMO secretary Smita Sabharwal facing a backlash due to her comments on the ‘persons with disabilities’ quota in the civil services, or most recently GHMC commissioner K Amrapali’s slip of tongue that apparently hurt the sentiments of the ‘Safai Karamcharis,’ observers feel that bureaucrats may have to spend more time in damage control than optimising their efforts in the service of society- if they don’t mend their classy ways.
On Friday, during her surprise inspections, Amrapali took GHMC sanitation workers to task, alleging that they weren’t regularly going for door-to-door collection of garbage, which has been the common grievance of the city-dwellers.
Complaint filed against Smita Sabharwal at DoPT and NHRC
While cautioning the workers that she may have to use modern technology to track their movements (garbage collection vehicles), the IAS officer said that the workers were not even collecting trash from her residence regularly.
That was enough to enrage the GHMC sanitation workers who have been working day-in and day-out despite the rains. They took no time to lodge their protest by holding a ‘Chalo GHMC ‘ protest demanding her to apologise to them for her remarks against her own underlings.
IAS officer Amrapali spoke with the protesting ‘Safai Karamcharis’ and told them that what she meant was not to hurt any of them, and told the media after convincing the workers to stop their protest, that GHMC workers played a key role in maintaining the city clean.
However, that wasn’t done for some (not workers).
“We have been training home makers about how to make vermi-compost out of the trash. We have been urging the city dwellers to raise terrace gardens so that it can serve both purposes- recycling of waste and becoming self-sufficient in food production at a very micro-level. Many people are attending out training sessions held every month,” a senior retired official of the horticulture department told Siasat.com, countering the IAS officers.
“But such comments show that though people (mostly the educated middle-class) have been making strides to change themselves, the age-old bureaucratic arrogance and loose-talk seems to have become the order of the day,” the official added.
On condition of anonymity, he told Siasat.com that Amrapali could learn from certain IAS officers who have been raising gardens in their homes, and have also been using cattle to prepare organic manure that could be used to nourish their plants.
“She may not have time for that, but she can at least use her human resources for the purpose, instead of damaging the morale of her own team members, who have been doing extra cosmetic and destructive work during her visits to various areas of GHMC in the recent time,” said the official
After being convinced that IAS officer Amrapali didn’t mean to hurt them, the GHMC sanitation workers called-off their protest.
