IAS officer’s retirement stirs hornet’s nest in Telangana

The voluntary retirement of senior IAS officer S A M Rizvi, has stirred a hornet’s nest in Telangana with the Opposition BRS and BJP accusing the Congress government of harassing officers who do not bend to the ministers’ whims.

Rizvi’s VRS application came after state excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao lodged a formal complaint against him before the chief secretary for deliberately stalling the tender process for high-security holograms affixed to the sealed liquor bottles which allowed the older vendor to continue the task since 2019.

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BRS working president KT Rama Rao alleged that Rizvi applied for VRS even after he had ten years of service left due to a tussle between chief minister Revanth Reddy’s son-in-law and excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao’s son over tenders. He said the officers in the state under Congress rule were caught between the devil and the deep sea.

“IAS officials are fleeing, saying they don’t want any share in their loot panchayats and that they have no connection to it. It is because of the harassment of IAS and IPS officers to force them into doing wrongful tasks that Mr Rizvi is taking VRS today.

“If government officials become partners in the atrocities and illegal activities being carried out by the Congress party, they will face punishment like in the past,” warned Rao.

Union minister of state for home affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, also slammed the Congress government for harassing the officers.

“IAS officer SAM Rizvi’s VRS exposes how Telangana’s bureaucracy is being crushed between corrupt politics and blame games. He may call it a personal choice, but it doesn’t look like one. Telangana deserves to know why an honest and efficient officer was forced to take this step. Is this how the Congress government plans to run the administration – by harassing officers who refuse to serve their personal interests?”

The Union minister also slammed the BRS alleging it had done the same during its rule.

“BRS did the same. KCR humiliated officers by making them face the Kaleshwaram probe for his failed project decisions. His son blamed bureaucrats in the Formula E case to save himself for his blunders. Now Congress has picked up where BRS left off -targeting officers while defending their favourites,” he added.