Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has kept the Union Territory (UT) administration on its toes ever since she was appointed to the post on May 22, 2016. The latest hurdle in her way in making Puducherry — in her own words — "clean and green" is the haphazard and possibly illegal way in which Puducherry Municipal Commissioner Chandrasekeran was transferred. This was done by Pudducherry Chief Secretary Manoj Parida.
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PMC Commissioner Chandrasekeran was removed without the approval, or even the knowledge, of the Puducherry LG, who was in Delhi at the time. Retired IPS officer & now Puducherry Lt. Governor Bedi immediately got the order cancelled because it was "invalid", and communicated to Parida that his had been a misstep.
Then Puducherry's political class closed ranks against her on Tuesday, April 4: They all agreed with the Congress government headed by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to send the leaders and elected representatives from their respective political parties to meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to explain that Bedi was apparently functioning beyond "political, legal and democratic norms".
Bedi, meanwhile, is unperturbed by all this. She has plans to continue her agenda for change and betterment, desspite all the hurdles she has faced since Day One. She told International Business Times, India, about the hurdles: "It [the progress in Puducherry] is not in pace with the times. We have momentum already. Had we moved in the pace we started here in June of last year, Pondicherry would have been clean and green by now."
She added: "We lost the speed. Changes we achieved hurt established vested interests and hit mind blocks. It also demanded a 100 per cent integrity of intention and an internal alignment of purpose, which takes time."
Bedi also said that Parida could face strict action for what he has done. She told IBTimes India: "Departmental action will certainly follow. He [Parida] has admitted he did it [signed the orders to transfer Chandraasekeran] under the directions of his political masters and that he could do what he did. He is misrepresenting. When I had warned him by email not to side-step the L-G's office and wait for just a day, he knowingly did."
She also took the time out for International Business Times, India to explain how things are going wrong in the UT, and how she plans to bring them back on track. Watch the video here:
