There is something curious about the Nizamabad police commissionerate, which has been finding it hard to retain any IPS officer posted as commissioner. In the last eight years, only one senior IPS officer, Karthikeya, served a long term as CP. The others barely hit the one-year mark, and after the recent transfer of Kalmeshwer Shinganevar, neighbouring Kamareddy district superintendent of police Ch. Sindhu Sharma is holding additional charge as CP of Nizamabad. And now, she too has reportedly sought a transfer. While the discussions on this centre around how the political pulls were too hard to bear on the cops posted as CP is the possible reason why no one wants to stay long, the joke doing the round is it is easier to catch a robber in Nizamabad than to catch an IPS officer to work in the town.
PEOPLE’S OFFICER MAKES COMEBACK
IAS officer Smita Sabharwal, often referred to as the ‘People’s Officer’, has added yet another twist to her unpredictable career. Known for her trailblazing record as the first woman secretary in Telangana’s CMO, under the BRS regime, and her decade-long stint there, Smita’s fortunes seemed to have nosedived when the Congress government assumed power in December 2023. Initially transferred to the Telangana State Finance Commission — a move widely seen as a sidelining — Smita appeared destined for bureaucratic obscurity. However, in a surprising turn of events, this week, she was appointed as the secretary of the tourism department, a key portfolio in the Congress administration. Bureaucratic circles began buzzing, immediately as Smita’s periodic open dissent against the Congress government on social media was seen as a career-limiting move. Her posts often sparked debate and reportedly caused discomfort within the ruling establishment and kept her in the spotlight. As the new tourism secretary, Smita is now expected to bring some dynamism to a department gearing up to revamp Telangana’s tourism appeal. Whether her maverick style will align with the Congress government’s vision remains to be seen, but one thing is certain—Smita Sabharwal is back in the spotlight, exactly where she thrives.
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IAS BABUS SHUN GROWING CONTROVERSY
The Telangana IAS Officers Association has drawn attention for its delayed and vague response on the shocking attack on IAS officer and Vikarabad district collector Prateek Jain. Prateek, who was reportedly attempting to address farmer land acquisition concerns for a proposed Pharma Village project in Lagcharla. While the public outcry erupted immediately, the association remained eerily silent for three days. When it finally broke its silence on November 13, the condemnation was curiously restrained, sparking murmurs in the babu bandwagon. The statement avoided any direct mention of Prateek’s name, the specific location of the incident, or any concrete details. Instead, it opted for a generic denouncement of attacks on public servants, issued by association president Shashank Goel, and secretary Jayesh Ranjan. Critics are questioning whether the Association’s cautious approach reflects internal politics, a bureaucratic bottleneck, or an attempt to downplay the incident to avoid ruffling political feathers. As the dust settles on Lagcharla’s fields, one thing remains clear: The Association’s cryptic response has only deepened the intrigue surrounding the attack on its member.
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LAKE OR RESERVOIR? THAT IS THE QUESTION
River Musi is, in some ways, all the rage these days, including all that fury from political parties on the clean up job of the river. And consequently, the two water bodies, Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, which are to play a crucial role in cleaning up the murky water of the river too are being talked about. And this is where things get curious. In the cross hairs is the principal secretary to MA&UD Dana Kishore who in a recent memo called Osmansagar and Himayatsagar ‘lakes’ while in reality, they are ‘reservoirs’. ‘This is mischievous’ is the charge hurled at the IAS officer as once they become ‘lakes’ then many of the statutory protections they get as reservoirs can be, well, watered down. Sometimes, nomenclature can do all the damage, particularly when a flagship programme of the government is at stake.
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COPS TOO SHY AWAY FROM PRATEEK JAIN ATTACK?
The recent attack on IAS officer and Vikarabad district collector Prateek Jain has left a lot of red faces in the administration. While political leaders have been vocal on taking action on those responsible for the attack, the heat has been turned off at the police department, whose officials were to provide security to a collector and district magistrate when out in the field. Word doing the rounds is that senior IPS officers, after failing in preventing the attack on Jain, have quietly tendered an apology to the powers that be, and are hoping that things will be left at that. And so, the quietly offered apologies were met with polite warnings that steps must be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
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SOMIREDDY VS KAKANI FIGHT CONTINUES
Friends for life… or foes? Such appears to be the case with YSRC former minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, and TD ex-minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy. In the latest butting of heads between the seemingly sworn foes for life, Somireddy filed a complaint with the police against Kakani following the latter alleging that Somireddy — now a ruling party MLA — of orchestrating a collection drive among liquor shop owners in Sarvepalli. For those coming in late, Somireddy in the past too, lodged several complaints against Kakani and even slapped the latter with defamation suits. And the good folks of Nellore, used to these brouhahas between the two, are now looking to see where the latest spat will go.
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GOKAVARAM SUFFERING POLITICAL STENCH?
The commonly held notion that politics stinks, appears to have found a new meaning in Gokavaram mandal of East Godavari District. At the heart of the matter is an ethanol plant in Gummalladoddi village against which people from four villages have been complaining. When the people, fed up with the stench from the plant, approached Jaggampeta MLA Jyothula Venkata Appa Rao (Nehru), this senior TD leader told them that he would address the problem and set a 20-day deadline for the company to eliminate the stench. But this remained undone, and so the MLA advised the people to highlight the problem. And so an agitation was launched, indefinite fasts were held, and the cops stepped in fearing law and order problems. But the stench remained and when the people approached the MLA again, they were allegedly admonished for the stir. To make matters worse, the people are riled that he told them in the next elections he would change his constituency, and so, the stench might no longer be his problem. The villagers have apparently concluded that the whole affair stinks of some kind of an understanding between the MLA and the company.
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Contributions from Vadrevu Srinivas, Avinash P. Subramanyam, Mouli Mareedu, Narender Pulloor, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Balu Pulipaka
