In a series of premature grudging transfers to far-off locations and mass termination of over 500 officials resulted in the first case of death of a talented engineer.

According to sources, WAPCOS and NPCC CMD, soon after taking over the charge, started transferring and terminating the employees and officers. A 45-year-old Executive Engineer and IIT- Roorkee alumnus, transferred in November from Gurugram to Chennai, had been suffering from serious illness and acute mental trauma after losing his child just six months earlier.

Unable to join Chennai posting, the officer’s salary was withheld, sliding him into extreme mental and financial distress. He subsequently suffered a fatal cardiac collapse, leading to his untimely death on February 2.

Despite making multiple personal requests directly to the CMD for cancellation of his transfer on humanitarian grounds, the CMD allegedly refused to consider his case because the request did not pass through her alleged mandatory gatekeeper—an advocate brought from her previous posting, the sources said and this practice was earlier reported in our earlier publication also, and the present incident further strengthens those allegations, raising serious questions of corruption, favouritism, and non-transparent decision-making at the CMD level.

The incident raises a grave question for the government and the nation: does the IAS tag make officials superior citizens or all-powerful authorities who can decide the fate—and life—of citizens? The sources said that the Human Rights authorities and Parliament must discuss the functioning of such officials and act before administrative arrogance claims more lives and corruption pushes the vulnerable further into misery.