INDORE MUNICIPAL Commissioner P Narhari is learnt to have been granted a reprieve after a delegation of BJP leaders led by Mayor Dr Uma Shashi Sharma interceded on his behalf with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal on Tuesday.
According to unconfirmed reports, Chouhan has stayed Narhari’s transfer orders till the district BJP leadership could evolve a consensus on the issue.
The Chief Minister is reported to have mandated district in-charge Minister Himmat Singh Kothari to obtain the views of MP Sumitra Mahajan and all four BJP MLAs of the district on the matter and report to him. If correct, the reports pose a major setback to the anti-Mayor camp led by PWD minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, which had allegedly been trying to oust Narhari for over three months.
Meanwhile, according to highly placed sources, the General Administration Department has directed Narhari not to relinquish the Commissioner’s post until further notice. The Commissioner was posted to the Woman and Child Welfare Department late on Saturday evening, allegedly at the behest of PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya. Transfer orders, had, however, not been issued.
The transfer stay comes in the wake of a last-ditch effort by the Mayor to retain the incumbent Commissioner. The Mayor, accompanied by MLAs Mahendra Hardia, Laxman Singh Gaud and Usha Thakur, as well as two members of her mayoral council, met Chouhan on Tuesday and pointed out that removing the Commissioner at the present juncture would have a debilitating effect
on key infrastructure development schemes.
The transfer stay comes in the wake of a last-ditch effort by the Mayor to retain the incumbent Commissioner. The Mayor, accompanied by MLAs Mahendra Hardia, Laxman Singh Gaud and Usha Thakur, as well as two members of her mayoral council, met Chouhan on Tuesday and pointed out that removing the Commissioner at the present juncture would have a debilitating effect
on key infrastructure development schemes.
The Mayor is learnt to have pointed out that Narhari had been instrumental in drafting the revised ADB project as well as four Detailed Project Reports submitted under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
The Commissioner’s ouster would set back these crucial projects by six months to a year, as it would take his successor at least that long to grasp the nitty-gritty of the schemes.
Dr Uma Shashi Sharma is also learnt to have outlined the possibility that Narhari’s replacement would be an official from the State Administrative Services and would lack the administrative acumen possessed by an official of the all-India services.