According to Deepak Saxena, general secretary of the 'State Administrative Services Association', in the last ten years of the BJP rule, at least 15,000 case of physical assaults on and misbehaviour with government officers have been reported from different parts of the state. Complaints about these ugly happenings have been made at the appropriate levels, including the police. Invariably, these cases involve members of the ruling party.

The latest in the series of these assaults took place in Raghogarh in Guna district, where a BJP Lok Sabha member and his followers attacked Rinkesh Vaishya, the local Sub-divisional magistrate.

Vaishya and his colleagues demanded action against the culprits. But nothing was done. The police did even not register an FIR.

The Association, which represents Deputy Collectors, Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars, Revenue Inspectors, Patwaris and all the gazetted administrative officers, barring those belonging to the IAS, has warned the government and also Nand Kumar Chauhan, President of the state BJP that if drastic and appropriate action was not taken against the power-drunk BJP men, they will have no other option but to resort to 'direct action'. According to the decision taken by the Association, to begin with, the members will strike work for a day.

In a strongly-worded statement issued on the eve of the strike, the Association has pointed out that almost every day, at some or the other place in the state, government officers and employees are targetted by ruling party leaders. They resort to violence or use abusive language when their illegal demands are not fulfilled. They also turn violent if they are caught doing illegal activities and officers decide to take action against them. Whenever the ruling party members are prevented from doing illegal mining, they take to arms and use goons to demoralise the officers concerned. The Association quoted several instances in which its member officers and employees were attacked.

In Morena, when the local sub-divisional magistrate Rajesh Rathore took action against some BJP leaders who were doing illegal mining, he was violently attacked. It was with great difficulty that he could persuade the police to record his complaint. Ravi Shankar Rai, a Vidisha-based Tehsildar and a woman Tehsildar of Harda were also attacked. There are thousands of such instances, the Association said.

The Association office-bearers have regretted that while police are reluctant to take action, no protection is provided to them by the government. The Association points out that the ruling party leaders want their demands to be fulfilled at any cost. They react violently when they are told that as per the rules their demands can't be met.

The Association warned that on February 18, there will be total breakdown of state administration. If even after the strike, the situation remains unchanged, they will approach the High court for justice.

They will present details of all the 15,000 cases before the High Court. 'We will pray to the High Court to seek explanation from the government for its failure to protect the dignity of the governance personnel. We are not slaves of the ruling part. In fact, we are a very important part of the government. A substantial section of our members are expected to maintain law and order. It is we who order the police to take action in case law and order breaks down or riots break out. We ensure that nothing goes wrong at any place where a crowd gathers for any reason - whether religious, social or political. We are expected to perform our duty, howsoever unpleasant it may be. How we can perform our duty, which is delicate in nature, if we don't enjoy unconditional support of the government and also of the ruling party?', the statement said.

The members of the association also have serious grievances with the IAS officers. 'The IAS officers are our immediate bosses but invariably they play the role of mute observers whenever we are targetted by anti-social elements. We face the ire of the people but our day-to-day problems are not taken care of by the top brass of the bureaucracy. Our problems, including lack of promotional avenues, are also ignored. Hundreds of administrative posts meant for non-IAS officers are lying vacant for years. Departmental promotion committee meetings are not held in time to promote state administrative services officers to the IAS cadre', a leader of the Association said.

He said that they have repeatedly approached the Chief Minister and the chief secretary but their response has been lukewarm. 'All this has forced us to protest through strike. And we are not going to stop at that', he said. (IPA Service)