‘Ghanta’ Remark Enters MP Govt Records, SDM and Typist Suspended
The action came after the order of local Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district Anand Malviya went viral on social media on Monday.
Bhopal: The colloquial objectionable word, ‘ghanta’, loosely translated into English as care a hoot, uttered by Madhya Pradesh urban administration minister Kailash Vijayvargiya to dismiss a question by a journalist in Indore recently, has entered the official record of the MP government even as a district officer along with a typist was on Monday suspended for making mention of it in an order.
The action came after the order of local Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district Anand Malviya went viral on social media on Monday.
The order dated January four directed the tehsildars in the district to make them available for their deployment to ensure law and order in the wake of the proposed bandh call given by Congress on January 11 in protest against water contamination deaths in Indore.
However, the way the order was drafted has landed the Mohan Yadav government in an acute embarrassment leading to suspension of the SDM and a typist in his office, Amit Chauhan.
“In Indore, 14 people died after drinking sewage, dirty water supplied by the local BJP-ruled civic body. State government’s minister Kailash Vijayvargiya’s use of the word ‘ghanta’ while replying to a question on this sensitive issue is a sign of inhumanity and authoritarianism. It has been decided on the directive of state (Congress) president Honourable Shri Jitu Patwari that demonstration will be staged before the residences of MPs and MLAs of BJP (in the state) by beating ‘ghanta’ (bell)”, the order by the SDM said.
Keeping this in view, tehsildar and executive magistrates, and revenue inspectors will be deployed to ensure law and order, the order said.
While the Hindi word ‘ghanta’ means bell in the normal sense, it means “I care a hoot”, when it is used colloquially to dismiss something or someone.
The viral order created a ripple in the ruling BJP circles as well as state administration, leading the Ujjain divisional commissioner Ashish Singh to place the SDM under suspension.
The suspension order said that the SDM gave the death toll figure on such a sensitive issue without verifying it, which amounts to violation of the relevant civil service rule.
The typist, who prepared the order, was also suspended.
Sources said that order had taken a few lines from the memorandum of Congress highlighting the Indore issue, leaving the state administration red-faced.
