In a major administrative reshuffle amid the lockdown, the Madhya Pradesh government,  has transferred 50 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, including some additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and a former chief secretary. This is the first major bureaucratic rejig by the BJP-led state government since Shivraj Singh Chouhan became chief minister in March this year.

The order comes when reports of nearly 89 personnel of the state health department, including four IAS officers and a few doctors, who have been playing a vital role in the fight against COVID-19, have tested coronavirus positive in the state in the last month. Apart from them, around 40 policemen and their family members, have also been found infected by the deadly virus.

Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Vivek Tankha termed the development of a large number of health department employees testing coronavirus positive as “gross negligence”.

“The majority of persons infected by coronavirus (in Bhopal) are from the health department, which is nothing but an outcome of gross negligence of the officers of department in following the COVID-19 guidelines,” he said.

The Madhya Pradesh government has also stopped sharing its COVID-19 data on the number of samples collected and tested with the public.

The last data was shared on April 26 when the health department said in its daily bulletin that the cumulative number of samples collected stands at 38,708. As many as 8,439 test reports were said to be awaited from laboratories till then, says a report by Hindustan Times.

The newspaper reports in a joint letter to health secretary and director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), public health experts Dr Biswaroop Chatterjee, Amulya Nidhi and SR Azad said, “Madhya Pradesh is testing lesser compared to other badly hit states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan.”

As per the order issued on Saturday night, former chief secretary Gopal Reddy has been posted as chairman of the revenue board at Gwalior, ICP Keshari as vice chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, Vinod Kumar as additional chief secretary (ACS) of the general administration department and JN Kansotia as ACS of the animal husbandry department, official sources said.

Besides, Anupam Rajan is posted as principal secretary of the public relations and higher education departments.

The government has removed P Narhari as commissioner of the public relations department and replaced him with Sudam P Khade. Narhari has now been made managing director of the marketing federation and will continue as commissioner of the urban development and administration department.

Sanjay Shukla is posted as principal secretary of the industrial policy and promotion department, replacing Rajesh Rajora, who is transferred as principal secretary of the labour department.

Neeraj Mandloi is posted as principal secretary of the public works department, replacing Malay Shrivastava, who is now posted as principal secretary of the public health engineering department. Forty other senior IAS officers, including two who suffered from COVID-19 and later recovered, have also been transferred, PTI reported.