Delhi PWD Secretary transferred

Delhi's Public Works Department (PWD) Secretary Ashwani Kumar, accused of corruption and stalling development works by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, has been transferred.

The Union Home Affairs Ministry, in an order dated November 2, transferred the bureaucrat to Puducherry.

The AAP, on September 25, accused Ashwani Kumar of corruption, but he denied the allegations and termed the charge a "cock-and-bull story".

Before this, in June, the PWD Secretary hit back after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty to demand action against him for not overseeing desilting of drains, saying that "negativity and squabbling attitude" did not work in such a challenging task.

Delhi Assembly's Petition Committee, headed by AAP legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj, had in June demanded a probe into alleged irregularities in developmental works undertaken by the PWD and various civic bodies.

The committee had also recommended that Kumar, who also held the additional charge of Secretary, Vigilance, be "kept aside" from both the posts until the probe was completed.

--IANS

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