IAS officers rally behind Durga, demand revocation of

Mounting pressure on the Akhilesh Yadav government, IAS officers in UP today rallied behind a woman colleague, who was suspended after she cracked down on the sand mafia, and demanded revocation of the order even as the issue snowballed into a major controversy.
28-year-old Durga Shakti Nagpal, a 2009-batch IAS officer from Punjab cadre, posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Gautam Budh Nagar, was suspended ostensibly for ordering demolition of wall of a mosque without following the legal process.
The IAS association today conveyed its serious concerns to the officiating chief secretary and demanded that the suspension order be immediately withdrawn.

Durga also accompanied the association members for the meeting with Alok Ranjan who said the entire matter would be put before the Chief Minister on his return from Bangalore.
"We went to meet the chief secretary and demanded revocation of the suspension. He said that he will look into it," secretary of the IAS association Parthsarathi Sen Sharma said.
Opposition accused the ruling SP government of targeting honest officers at the behest of the powerful sand mafia.
Durga had clamped down on illegal mining and taken on the sand mafia in UP. She was suspended barely 10 months after she got her first posting in the state.

"SDM Nagpal has been suspended for getting wall of a mosque removed without following legal process in an unforesighted manner which affected the communal atmosphere," a government spokesman had said here.