Dalit UPSRTC official accuses Ballia DM of misbehaviour, quits

A Dalit assistant regional manager (ARM) of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) tendered his resignation from his post after alleging that

A Dalit assistant regional manager (ARM) of the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) tendered his resignation from his post after alleging that the Ballia district magistrate misbehaved with him and used casteist words.

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Ballia district magistrate Bhavani Singh Khangaraut called the allegations baseless and said a letter had been written to the UPSRTC managing director for strict action against the ARM for dereliction of duty.

In the letter, Singh wrote that the ARM didn’t make buses available for shifting the inmates from Ballia jail to other prisons despite strict instructions to do so.

Assistant regional manager Bindu Prasad didn’t answer calls on his CUG number despite repeated attempts to reach him, the DM alleged. Therefore, the DM said he had to go to the UPSRTC official’s office to bring him to the district jail. Because of his lackadaisical approach, shifting of the inmates was delayed, which could cause a law and order problem, the DM said in the letter.

Therefore, strict action should be taken against the ARM, he wrote to the UPSRTC MD.

For his part, Bindu Prasad said he made 15 buses available as instructed by the DM’s office for shifting the jail inmates.

“I went to the district jail and parked all the buses in order and returned to my office thereafter,” he said.

Prasad alleged the DM reached his office around noon and misbehaved with him and used casteist words against him as he belonged to a Scheduled Caste.

Prasad said that he was hurt by the misbehaviour by the DM and was resigning from his post.