Gujarat: ‘Dahod collector ordered armed guards to beat us’

GANDHINAGAR: In a bizarre incident which is uncharacteristic of the bureaucracy, two employees of the office of Dahod district director of land records have shot off a letter to the state government, alleging that district collector Vijay Kharadi verbally abused them and asked his armed guards to assault them.
The two officials, in the letter written to additional chief secretary (revenue), have sought permission to file a FIR against the collector.They have also submitted a video of the injuries sustained for photographic evidence of the alleged thrashing. The state government is yet to take a decision in the matter, “as it could affect local administration”, top sources in the know of the development said. The incident took place on the afternoon of July 7, Tuesday.
Dahod district collector Vijay Kharadi termed the allegations as baseless and that the two employees had levelled charges against him to avoid work.
Inspector of district land records Deepak Patel (class II) and headquarters assistant senior surveyor Vimal Solanki (classIII) were summoned during an ongoing meeting by collector Kharadi. The two officials alleged in writing that Kharadi began verbally abusing them and ordered his guards to beat them even as they were not allowed to move.
DLRO officials threatened to go on strike
In their letter addressed to ACS (revenue) Pankaj Kumar, the officials alleged, “The behaviour of the collector is unlike any IAS officer who beats his subordinates like this. We request you to take necessary action against him and also guide us whether to file an FIR against him or not for such heinous act.”
Officials of the district land records office (DLRO) also threatened to go on strike if the government did not take any action.
Sources close to the development said that Kharadi had directed the officials to prepare some reports, but they did not act as per his direction. This made the collector furious with the two officials.
Kharadi, who has earlier served as district development officer (DDO) in Surat and Jamnagar before being posted as Dahod collector, said, “They were delaying the crucial survey work of many government priority projects and were also given show-cause notices earlier. I only called and asked them to expedite the work. However, instead of completing the assigned work, they made such allegations to avoid work. All allegations are baseless.’’