21 jail officials, 15 IAS officers transferrd in UP

Lucknow, June 28 (IANS) After a video of prisoners brandishing firearms in the Unnao prison went viral, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh transferred 21 jail officials and 15 IAS officers.

According to a statement issued here on Thursday night by Director General (Prisons) Anand Kumar, some of the jail officials who have been transferred are Ravikant Singh from Central Jail Agra to Jhansi District Jail, Alok Kumar Shukla posted at Central Jail Bareilly to District Jail Fatehpur, while Dharampal Singh has been transferred to Naini Central Jail (Prayagraj) from Sultanpur District Jail.

However, no official from the Unnao district jail was mentioned in the transfer list.

Sources said that a proposal has also been sent to the Home Department for the transfer of the inmates to some other jail.

In Unnao, departmental proceedings have been initiated against four jail officials on grounds of laxity and dereliction of duty. A show-cause notice has been issued to the prison superintendent and the jailor. The inmates seen with firearms will also be shifted to other jails

Meanwhile, the state government also transferred 15 IAS officers also on late Thursday.

Nitin Ramesh Gokarna, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Planning, was also holding charge of PWD but now the charge of principal secretary, housing and urban planning has been given to Dinesh Chaturvedi.

Kalpana Awasthi, serving as Principal Secretary, Excise, as well as Forest and Environment, has been relieved of excise charge which has been entrusted to Sanjay Bhoosreddy.

Arvind Kumar Chaurasia, Manoj Kumar and Ravindra Kumar Mandar have been posted as municipal commissioners of Meerut, Jhansi and Mathura-Vrindavan, respectively.