Jaipur, Aug 12 (IANS) Rajasthan politics heated up in Alwar on Wednesday after Forest Minister Sanjay Sharma staged a sit-in protest at the Alwar Municipal Corporation over the long-pending appointment of sanitation workers selected during a 2012 recruitment drive.
The Minister’s protest against officials of his own government drew a sharp response from Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra, who questioned the functioning of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and its bureaucracy.
Reacting to the Minister’s protest in a post on social media platform X, Dotasra said that if a Minister has to stage a sit-in against alleged irregularities within his own government, it indicates the extent of the problems prevailing under the BJP administration.
The State Congress President said that when a Minister himself raises serious allegations against the bureaucracy, including dishonesty, alleged loot and arbitrary functioning, it raises questions about the state of governance.
He specifically referred to Minister Sanjay Sharma’s protest in Alwar and his allegations concerning the District Collector Artika Shukla and Municipal Corporation Commissioner Lakshmikant Katara, saying the episode raises serious questions about the BJP government’s administrative system.
Dotasra alleged that the bureaucracy has become so powerful under the BJP government that even Ministers and MLAs are not being heard and court orders are allegedly not being implemented.
He said that sanitation workers have been waiting for their appointment letters for months despite court orders in their favour.
“Candidates from a recruitment drive held years ago are being forced to move from one office to another for their appointments even after winning their cases in court,” Dotasra alleged.
He added that the public is watching the developments and claimed that the “exit of this chaotic and corrupt system is inevitable” in the next two-and-a-half years.
The dispute concerns 329 candidates selected for sanitation worker posts in the Alwar Municipal Corporation during the 2012 recruitment drive.
According to Minister Sanjay Sharma, the selected candidates have still not received their appointment letters despite the passage of several years.
Minister Sharma said the Rajasthan High Court had ruled in favour of the candidates, while the Department of Local Self-Government had also found them eligible for appointment.
However, he alleged that local officials continued to delay the matter on the grounds of administrative correspondence.
Supporting the candidates, Minister Sharma staged a sit-in at the Municipal Corporation premises on Wednesday and demanded that their appointment letters be issued.
During the protest, Minister Sharma also questioned the position taken by the District Collector on the appointment issue.
According to the Minister, during a conversation with the Collector, he was told that the district administration was not the appointing authority responsible for issuing the appointment letters.
Minister Sharma said that he asked the Collector to consult the state government, issue necessary directions to the competent appointing authority and ensure that the selected candidates received their appointment letters.
He also alleged that neither the District Collector nor the then Municipal Corporation Commissioner appeared willing to resolve the issue.
Minister Sharma said the Department of Local Bodies (DLB) had sent a letter to Akhil Arora, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, seeking immediate intervention in the matter.
He said the concerned officials had also been informed about the latest communication issued by the DLB.
Despite these developments, Minister Sharma alleged that the District Collector had maintained his position regarding the issuance of appointment letters.
The Minister’s decision to protest over the issue has brought the long-pending recruitment dispute into the political spotlight, with the Opposition using the episode to question coordination between the elected government and the bureaucracy.
A political stir erupted in Rajasthan when Sanjay Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Forest and Environment in the Bhajan Lal Sharma government, staged a sit-in outside the Alwar Municipal Corporation against the local administration, which is part of his own government.
The protest concerned the distribution of appointment letters to sanitation workers from the Valmiki community.
Minister Sharma alleged that the District Collector and the Municipal Corporation administration had repeatedly delayed the matter.
Following the development, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot launched a scathing attack on the BJP government.
In a social media post, Gehlot said that when a Cabinet Minister is forced to take to the streets for a legitimate cause in his own district, there could be “no greater example of administrative incompetence”.
Questioning the state’s bureaucratic and administrative system, the former Chief Minister said that Ministers have little authority under the BJP government’s leadership.
Gehlot wrote that Minister Sanjay Sharma had spoken to the District Collector, yet the bureaucracy did not heed the Minister’s intervention.
He said that this showed the state government was operating at the behest of “unbridled bureaucrats” rather than elected representatives.
The former Chief Minister also alleged that Cabinet Ministers in the state government had been reduced to mere “rubber stamps”.
Gehlot questioned the BJP-led state government, saying: “If Ministers themselves appear helpless before the administrative machinery, who will listen to the grievances of sanitation workers and the general public?”
Calling the episode a major embarrassment for the BJP government, the former Chief Minister said that a situation in which a Minister has to stage a sit-in protest can hardly be described as an example of “good governance”.
He alleged that the incident exposed serious problems within the state’s administrative machinery.
Appointment letters were to be issued to candidates selected during the recruitment process for sanitation workers at the Alwar Municipal Corporation.
Representatives of the Valmiki community had reportedly been demanding the issuance of these letters for some time.
It was alleged that the district administration and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner had repeatedly delayed the process.
After officials allegedly failed to resolve the matter despite his intervention, Minister Sanjay Sharma joined the sanitation workers in their sit-in protest.
The Minister said he would not leave the protest site until the eligible candidates received their appointment letters.
Minister Sharma also apprised the Chief Minister’s Office of the situation.
–IANS
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