Gujarat: Rajkot civic chief, police commissioner and two other IPS officers transferred

Two days after a blaze killed 27 persons in a recreation centre in Gujarat’s Rajkot, the state government on Monday transferred the city's police commissioner, two other IPS officers and the civic chief.

Police Commissioner Raju Bhargava, Additional Commissioner of Police Vidhi Choudhary and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-2) Sudhirkumar Desai were transferred without postings, the state home department said in a notification.

The government also transferred Rajkot Municipal Commissioner and IAS officer Anand Patel.

The government has appointed Brajesh Kumar Jha, Special Commissioner of Police, Sector-2, Ahmedabad, as the new Rajkot police commissioner.

Mahendra Bagria, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kutch-Bhuj (West), will take over Rajkot’s new additional commissioner of police, while Jagdish Bangarwa, Superintendent, Central Prison, Vadodara, will be the new deputy commissioner of police.

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The government put Rajkot civic chief Anand Patel’s service at the “disposal of the General Administrative Department for further orders”, stated a GAD notification.

Patel has been replaced by DP Desai, who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) with an additional post of CEO, Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA).

Bhavya Verma, Mission Director, Swachh Bharat Mission, Gandhinagar will hold the additional charge of CEO, AUDA and CEO GUDA, the GAD notification said.

Earlier in the day, the Gujarat High Court censured the government saying it had no faith in the state machinery “which gets into action only after innocent lives are lost” over purported lapses in the functioning of the TRP Game Zone where a massive fire killed 27 persons on May 25.

The court asked whether the civic body had turned a blind eye to such a big structure coming up in its vicinity after its lawyer submitted that the recreation centre had not asked for requisite permissions.