DC expose: Long before transfer, Labour Secy wanted to replace Sindhuri
Bengaluru: In a fresh twist to the controversial shunting out of IAS officer, Rohini Sindhuri Dasarai from the Karnataka Building and Construction Workers' Welfare Board (KBCWWB), Deccan Chronicle can exclusively report that labour secretary, P. Manivannan, who has denied any involvement in her transfer, had in fact written to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to post an experienced IRS officer as secretary of the board, even while she was still in the post.
Based on his letter, the finance ministry issued a circular on September 19, a day before Ms Dasarai's transfer, asking the IRS officers to check if anyone was interested in the post.
In his letter to the CBDT , Mr Manivannan wrote, "May I request your good office to kindly let us know the names of officers willing to be posted as secretary of the Karnataka Building and Construction Workers' Welfare Board so that I can forward the list to the Karnataka government." He added that an IRS officer with over 10 years experience and staying in Karnataka, was preferable for the post.
When contacted, Mr Manivannan did not deny writing the letter.
"As we have a lot of funds here, I felt an IRS officer could handle it carefully. That's why I wrote a letter in this regard. Just because I sent a request to the CBDT, it does not mean it was final as it had to be finally approved by the chief secretary and the government," he said.
Denying that he had anything to do with Ms Dasarai's transfer he declared, "We are colleagues, who have worked together for 10 or 20 years. So I would never do such a thing. And I had no issues with her. I keep away from controversy and politics because I am a civil servant."
The KBCWWB, that comes under the labour department, has an annual budget of Rs 100 crore, of which 80 per cent goes towards meeting the salaries of its employees. But the board also has a whopping corpus of Rs 8,000 crore collected from the welfare cess paid by builders and individuals constructing houses.
After Ms Dasarai took over as secretary of the board, she streamlined its programmes and planned to launch three more to link all the labourers to Ayushman Bharat, train the unskilled construction workers and open crèches near big construction sites. She had called for tenders and was planning to rope in professional training centres to impart skills to labourers, when she was shunted out allegedly at the behest of a senior IAS officer, who wanted the tenders to be awarded to non-existent or dubious companies and groups.
Ms Dasarai, who was removed without a posting, was on Wednesday appointed Commissioner, Sericulture.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa, was warned by former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah at a Congress rally that the party would launch an agitation if the government made any attempts to divert funds from the KBCWWB.
Going by official sources, Mr Yediyurappa had toyed with the idea of using the Rs 8000 crore in the board's welfare fund to help labourers in the flood- hit regions of the state, but had been dissuaded by finance secretary, I.S.N. Prasad and other senior officers, who felt the move could be controversial.
