Narendra Modi-led BJP Government has sacked the whistleblower Indian Forest Service officer Kallol Biswas of Andhra Pradesh cadre.
Biswas, a 1991 batch IFS officer, came to prominence after serving notices to notorious mining company Obulapuram Mines Company (OMC) owned by Gali Janardhana Reddy while he was serving as a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Anantpur.
What did government sources say?
According to the government sources, the decision of compulsory retirement of the Andhra Pradesh Cadre officer was taken on Friday, on the basis of the report submitted by a committee headed by former chief secretary Dinesh Kumar about an year ago.
The committee headed by Kumar probed into the service records of the officer and allegedly found out that there were certain violations in the manner the officer dealt with the Obulapuram mine issue. Biswas was transferred after that and was posted as Joint Secretary of Higher Education Department.
Kallol Biswas is known for his innovative development work
Biswas has been known for his innovative development work in the Narsipatnam agency area, Kallol Biswas also quite vocal against Gali Janardhana Reddy, a prominent BJP leader whose mining company, Obulapuram Mines Company has been in controversy as it allegedly crossed its permitted boundaries in both the states. Kallol Biswas happened to lead the review attack by the district forest department for conducting an investigation into the matter.
Kallol’s whistleblowing act
As per media reports, Biswas was the first officer in Andhra Pradesh who took the bold step of exposing the alleged nexus between the Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government and Gali Janardhana Reddy’s mining business in Andhra Pradesh. Biswas found a number of certain illegalities that were consequently inspected later by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Around a decade back, Biswas served notices to OMC for suspending its mining licenses and had to go underground after that, as he faced plenty of threats in person.
“He was getting so many threats at that point that he stopped coming to work without informing the authorities – even that has been flagged by the committee report on him,” an IFS officer told The Print on condition of anonymity.
Local Telugu media reported that, Biswas had said at the time, “There were several unknown things happening in the mines of OMC both in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and that former CM YSR had stalled the survey of mines by the Survey of India as well, and also written to the Centre opposing such a move.”
The move has come after the YSRCP Government came to power recently
The move to force Biswas’s retirement compulsorily has come around a couple of months after Y.S.R Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan came to power in the state. The Narendra Modi-led NDA government 2.0 has sought to lash the officials it percieves as corrupt or non-performers and then retire them.
