Mumbai: The controversy surrounding Indian Administrative Service trainee officer Puja Khedkar, who was transferred out of Pune collector’s office after complaints of misconduct, gets bigger by the day. Now, an old video of her mother Manorama Khedkar has surfaced on social media platforms.
The video was allegedly recorded in Mulshi taluka in Pune district, where Manorama, accompanied by her security guards, can be seen threatening farmers with a gun in her hand, saying that these farmers were trying to “grab their land”.
According to news reports, Puja’s father, Dilip Khedkar, a retired IAS officer, had amassed properties worth crores of rupees during his tenure, including 25 acres of land in Mulshi. However, local residents alleged that the Khedkar family also tried to usurp the land of neighbouring farmers and that the matter was under litigation.
In the two-minute long video clip, Manorama can be seen yelling at a man with a pocket pistol in her hand. She can be heard saying in Marathi, “Show me the satbara (land documents). The land documents have my name.” When the local protests, and replies that the matter is in court and that she should behave herself, she says, “Don’t teach me the rules.”
Puja, the junior IAS officer, who was posted at the Pune district collector’s office, had tried to “abuse her power” with her demands for a car with a beacon and a separate cabin, and so on.. She was transferred to Washim district earlier this week after complaints of misconduct.
She has also been accused of faking disability and misusing the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota to secure a seat in the administrative service.
Centre has set up a single-member panel to probe Puja’s candidature and verify her claims and other allegations.
This ias trainee is not the problem…. The problem is, what the ias has become… As khushwant singh said…. The solution called steel frame of the nation, has become the steel noose of the nation.
The ias is a corrupt, self serviving burden on the nation… An object of contempt and dread for the common man.
The ias must be done away with, and a new system … Based on morality, service, and honesty, created.