Govt finds a scapegoat, suspends IAS officer in rail coach factory case

Written by Writer on Friday, October 24th, 2008

Govt finds a scapegoat, suspends IAS officer in rail coach factory case

24 Oct 2008, TNN

LUCKNOW: Facing heat over the controversy surrounding allotment of land for the Rs 1600 crore rail coach factory at Lalganj in the Rae Bareli district, the Mayawati government on Thursday suspended senior IAS officer Balvinder Kumar for the ‘lapse’.

A 1981 batch officer of the IAS cadre, Kumar is presently posted as member judicial, Revenue Board, Allahabad. He was shifted to this post soon after Sonia Gandhi announced her decision to visit Rae Bareli for bhoomi poojan for the rail factory. Balvinder was then posted as principal secretary, revenue.

He is understood to have been put under suspension late this evening after a formal approval by chief minister Mayawati. However, this was neither confirmed nor denied by the government. When asked to comment, a senior official of the appointment department said on condition of anonymity: “I cannot comment on the issue as it is sensitive.” Sources confided that Balvinder was held guilty of not placing land allotment matter before the state cabinet for its approval.

However, Kumar, whose suspension was taken for granted ever since the controversy began, was believed to have been made a scapegoat. The script for his suspension was written when Mayawati decided to cancel her own order for the land allotment on October 12, a day before Congress president Sonia Gandhi had planned to hold a ‘bhoomi pooja’ for the project.