Stenos, Peons Caught In Crossfire Between Environment ACS And SEIAA Chairman In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Chairman of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), SN Singh Chouhan, and additional chief secretary of the environment department, Aniruddha Mukherjee, have crossed swords.

As Chouhan has opened a front against giving 237 deemed permissions, a rift has opened between him and the officials of the environment department.

Mukherjee has taken off his gloves over the issue. He has changed the office staff of Chouhan from peons to stenographers thrice a month.

Now, he has issued notices to terminate the services of the contractual workers.

The stenographer of Chouhan, Poonam Jha, together with four other officials, has received notices for termination of services.

These employees have been working in the environment department for 10 to 20 years.

Mukherjee served one month's notice on Ajit Sharma, Chandrika Singh, Sudha Singh, Rakesh Bharti, and Jha. These employees have requested the director general of the Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO) not to terminate their services.

They have received one month's notice. Some of the employees who received notices reportedly supported the SEIAA chairman.

The peons attached to the SEIAA have been transferred to EPCO. The SEIAA chairman wrote to the chief secretary that the ACS came in the way of his functioning.

According to reports, the ACS also removed a master trainer from service. The ACS wrote a DO letter to the Government of India for removing the master trainer from service.

According to Chouhan, working according to rules remains the priority, and one should remove any obstacles from the way.