'IAS Officers Misrule' Forces Govt Doctor To Drive Auto-rickshaw In Karnataka

BENGALURU: In a disheartening incident, a government doctor in Karnataka who served in the health and family welfare department in Ballari district for 24 years, is now forced to drive an auto-rickshaw to earn his living as he had refused to help an IAS officer get a posting in 2018.

A message in his auto reads, "Harassed By the IAS Officers' Misrule", as reported by a leading channel.

According to a media report, it started with Ravinder and the Zilla Panchayat CEO getting into an argument when the latter found a technical error in outsourcing health staffs.

Ravinder told that he has not received his salary for the last 15 months. He was suspended on June 6, 2019. Later, after approaching the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT), the court had ordered him to be reinstated.

In December, Ravinder was then appointed as the senior medical officer at Sedam General Hospital, Kalabaurgi district. However, he was demoted to the post as a taluk.

He then approached the KAT again and it ordered that he be posted at a district-level hospital. Meanwhile, citing coronavirus outbreak and the dearth of health staffs, he was not transferred.

He told the daily that when the order had come, the COVID-19 pandemic was not at its peak and that many doctors have been transferred.

He said he is yet to receive his transfer order and has filed a contempt petition scheduled to be heard on September 11.

It is after this that Ravinder has moved back to his home town in Davanager city and is running the auto-rickshaw to earn his living. He is unwilling to join the private health sector as he as to go to those IAS officers for license.

He has also been declined a loan from several banks.

The additional chief secretary of the health and family welfare department has affirmed to look into the matter, as reported by a leading channel.