With the Aam Aadmi Party government labelling allegations after allegations against the bureaucracy in the National Capital and staging a march to the Prime Minister's residence on Sunday over their non-cooperation, the IAS Officers' Association rubbished its claims saying the officers were never on "strike".
In an unprecedented press conference, the Association said the IAS officers were being
dragged into politics.
"I would like to inform that we are not on strike. We have been victimised and targeted. The allegations that we are on strike are completely false and baseless," Manisha Saxena, revenue secretary, told the media.
The officers said they are "apolitical" and only "follow the law and constitution". However, due to this "abnormal situation" in the government, they had to call this presser to clarify their stance.
"The IAS officers in Delhi are working with utmost dedication. Officers have been attending all statutory meetings except those where they feel unsafe or their self-respect is at risk," they said.
"We are attending all meetings, except those where we feel unsafe. After what happened to Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, we have no confidence and nobody has reached out to us to boost our confidence," said Saxena.
Explaining one of the unattended meetings, officers said, the environment minister had called a meeting which was "too short notice" and he could not have cancelled his already scheduled meetings.
Saxena was referring to the alleged assault of Anshu Prakash on February 19 after he was called to a late-night meeting at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence at Civil Lines. The officers have since been boycotting meetings with ministers.
She also hinted at being "threatened" once but chose not to elaborate on the same.
Transport commissioner Varsha Joshi, against who the AAP had listed a number of meetings not attended, said, "We are frightened and victimised. I am compelled to speak, as I have been a victim of many personal and vicious attacks. Let us do our work. We are being used for completely political reasons."
The CM has alleged that the officers have been on a strike and do not attend meetings or attend phone calls, because of which work has been stuck for four months. The alleged "strike" has been one of the major reasons between the now long-drawn standoff between the elected head Kejriwal and administrative head of the city, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Also, the elected government maintains that the strike is being carried out at the behest of the BJP.
Kejriwal along with his ministers has been on a sit-in at Raj Niwas (LG House) urging him to meet them and ask the officers to call of their strike.
The press conference was held jointly by Saxena, Varsha Joshi, transport commissioner, directorate of information and publicity (DIP) secretary, Jaydev Sarangi and South Delhi district magistrate Amjad Tak.
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