At her farewell, woman IAS rides paalki lifted by subordinates on shoulders

Despite having pledged to the Constitution to serve people as a civil servant, a woman IAS officer, Collector in Madhya Pradesh, happily chose to act like a queen sitting on a gold-coloured ‘shahi paalki’ (royal palanquin) lifted by her subordinate staff members and others on their shoulders at her farewell.

The officer in question, Sanskriti Jain is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2015 batch of Madhya Pradesh cadre. She was the collector of the Seoni district and transferred and posted as the Commissioner of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) a few days ago. Before taking charge of her new post at Bhopal on Sunday, she was accorded a lavish farewell by her staff at Seoni. They brought for her the gold-coloured peacock-shaped palanquin, with the face of a peacock in the front and two wings spread out behind her.

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An ecstatic Sanskriti Jain readily accepted to sit on the paalki, holding a bouquet of flowers in her hand. What’s more, she also made her two young daughters sit with her during the ride.

Around seven-eight of her subordinate staff employees, along with members of the public, walked along taking turns in lifting the paalki on their shoulders with the lady collector ensconced on it.

To add more effect to the ceremony, a Bolloywood number, ‘Paalki Mein Hokar Sawar Chali Re…’ blared on speakers, as the farewell parade was taken out. A video of the farewell parade also has gone viral.

In contrast, another lady officer from another district politely turned down the request from her staff and other people to sit on one side of a weighing scale with laddus on the other side of the scale. The officer, Vaishali Jain, was the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Rewa, who has been transferred to Ratlam. At her farewell in Rewa, her staff, some lawyers, and others had placed a large weighing scale with laddus on one side of it.

Vaishali Jain was asked to sit on the other side of the scale as the people wanted to weigh her in laddus as a mark of appreciation for her work. However, she humbly declined the offer. She simply bowed in front of the weighing scale with folded hands and thanked everyone for the gesture.

Videos of both the incidents have gone viral a day before Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav is scheduled to preside over a two-day Conference of all Commissioners and Collectors of the state at Bhopal on 7 and 8 October. Notably, CM Dr Yadav has repeatedly emphasized that Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers must work with the feeling that they are the servants of the public.

On many occasions, the chief minister stressed that government officials and employees should serve the public humbly, and there should always be a manifestation of humanity and sensitivity in their working style.

He has also stated that the rights enjoyed by government officers and employees are for the fulfillment of the people’s needs and requirements, for which they are accountable to the public.