Felicitation of 'inept' officials irks Rajasthan BJP

Jaipur: While the Narendra Modi government is garnering praise for giving Padma Shri to five grassroots workers from Rajasthan for their significant contribution to the society, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state is raising questions over felicitation of few officials by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government despite their poor performance.

One of the officials in question is Jaisalmer District Collector Namit Mehta, who has been honoured for his work in the district programme, disaster relief, rural development and locust control.

His felicitation has come at a time when locusts continue to attack crops, creating havoc for farmers in western Rajasthan. Farmers there had incurred huge losses due to crops damage, BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bharadwaj told IANS.

According to officials, crops worth Rs 700 crore have been damaged but only Rs 47 crore has been released as compensation.

The next official in question for being felicitated is Ummed Singh, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry Department. He has been honoured by the government and given a certificate of merit, while the reasons for death of thousands of migratory birds in Sambhar Lake, which falls in Singh's ambit, remain unanswered.

The government ignored his failure and decided to honour him, Bharadwaj said.

Similarly, Rudharam Sain, nayab tesildar from the Election Department, was feted at a time when the letters had been exchanged between the Panchayat Raj Ministry and the Election Commission on account of delay in pools due to delayed work of delimitation.

Surprisingly, he has been awarded for his exemplary work in panchayat delimitation.

Bharadwaj said the Centre feted those who contributed to the society in a big way and who deserved it.

But the Rajasthan government was simply felicitating sycophants and undeserving officials. "It is feting those who work in accordance to set standards and norms, which stand synonymous to poor governance," the BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, state Congress vice-president Archana Sharma said, "The BJP seems to be making issues because they don't have any issue. If administration is doing good job, it needs to be acknowledged."