Rapping the knuckles of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi State Government, Centre on Sunday suspended the Transport Secretary Renu Sharma IAS for plying buses to transport the migrant labour to the border leading to chaos. The Union Home Ministry also suspended State Finance Secretary Rajeev Verma IAS who is also the Divisional Commissioner of Delhi for dereliction of duty during the Government’s war-footing efforts to tackle the Corona pandemic crisis.

The Union Home Ministry headed by Amit Shah also issued a show-cause notice to Delhi State Home Secretary Satya Gopal and Seelampur Sub Divisional Magistrate for dereliction of duty. The Kejriwal Government was blamed by many for providing buses to migrant labour to reach the borders of UP with the false promise that they will be further transported by the UP State to their hometowns. This has created chaos for the past three days leading to many who started walking hundreds of kilometers to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

“It has been brought to the notice of the competent authority that the following officers, who were responsible to ensure strict compliance to the instructions issued by Chairperson, National Executive Committee, formed under Disaster Management Act 2005 regarding containment of the spread of COVID-19, have prima facie failed to do so.

“These officers have failed to ensure public health and safety during the lockdown restrictions to combat COVID-19. Due to the serious lapse in the performance of their duties, the competent authority has initiated disciplinary proceedings against the following officers:

Additional Chief Secretary, Transport Department, GNCTD – Suspended with immediate effect. Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Land Buildings Departments, GNCTD – Show Cause Notice. Principal Secretary, Finance, GNCTD & Divisional Commissioner, GNCTD – Suspended with immediate effect. SDM Seelampur – Show Cause Notice,” said the suspension order issued by the Union Home Ministry.

Sunday evening, Delhi Police had filed First Information Report (FIR)s over 44 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses headed to the UP border with migrant workers. The first FIR registered by the police had indicated that the buses had been deployed on orders of government officials. According to the FIR, when the police asked the bus staffer “why are they carrying migrant passengers, that too without issuing any ticket to them, all of them told that ‘they had orders from superiors’.” The FIR listed registration numbers of 44 buses. Anand Vihar Bus Station, where thousands of migrant labour crowded is under the jurisdiction of SDM Seelampur, who also got a Show-cause notice.