Mangaluru: Rumours are being circulated that the MCC Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati has been transferred. But there has been no official confirmation about the same.
Hephsiba Rani took charge as the Commissioner of Mangalore City Corporation on January 1, 2015. She was very disciplined in her work and showed much interest in the development work of the city. There were many Councillors who were against her for her strict nature. Her over-disciplined nature was perceived as a threat by some of them.
Hephsiba, after taking charge as commissioner, brought about a clean and transparent administration which some in the MCC did not like and were against her.
On April 25, when the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah arrived at the Mangaluru airport, some of the Councillors met the CM and complained against the Commissioner. When the reporters questioned the CM about the meeting with the Councillors inside the airport, he said that it was an internal matter, and that there was some misunderstanding between the Mayor and the Commissioner, which would be sorted out. There was even an allegation from the Councillors that the Commissioner did not respect them when they went to her cabin.
Continuous attempts were being made to transfer Hephsiba from Mangalore City Corporation and in this regard a delegation had gone to Bengaluru and met the Chief Minister.
When mangalorean.com contacted Mayor Jacintha Afred, regarding the transfer, the Mayor said, “Today Hephsiba is on leave, I did not receive any information about the transfer of the Commissioner. Without receiving the transfer order, I will not comment on the issue.”
Finally, on June 12, afternoon, it is learnt through sources that the Chief Minister has issued a transfer letter to Hephsiba Rani, and the same will be sent to the Mangalore City Corporation soon.
Great job by Mayor and other councilors! Your single-minded dedication to keep corruption in full-force and deliver us ‘third world’ level infrastructure and services are truly appreciated. After all, why fight corruption and make Mangalore a better city ? It may offend other cities swimming in corruption!! Again, good job!!
It is unfortunate that honesty,Integrity, Discipline, Justice has no place in this country. There is rampant corruption and red-tapism in all government departments including MCC. It is high time that people get united and voice their feelings and sentiments on this unjust transfer which will hit the interests of the common man.
Democracy has many flaws.
One of them is that, the elected persons are supposed to be in control. And the bureaucrats are supposed to be reporting to the elected persons.
Apart from many other issues cropping out of this arrangement, one sad issue is that the elected reps are more focused on their politicking and planning to win the next round than worrying about the welfare of the people who elected them.
The politicking and planning to win the next round requires bucket-loads of money, which can come from the contractors. So, the elected reps need to build special relationship with the various contractors and suppliers of services.
To add to this drama, we have many bureaucrats too, who run business empires as they know the ins and outs of financial deals, from the big guys to the average aam aadmi.
So, there is very little scope for survival of the honest elected rep and the honest bureaucrat. It is a miracle that such individuals actually exist in a democratic setup.
I do believe that Ms Korlapati is an honest bureaucrat. Hopefully experience in her job does not take her in a different ethical direction.