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IAS officer Manivannan has been transferred without a new publication. (Photo courtesy: Twitter)
The order to replace Captain Manivannan with Maheshwar Rao, another IAS officer, came Monday night and triggered online campaigns on change.org to ‘bring back’ the captain.
Deepa Balakrishnan
- CNN-News18
- Last update: May 12, 2020 9:27 AM IST
Bangalore: On Monday, the Karnataka government was embroiled in a controversy over the unceremonious transfer of a senior IAS official who was leading the Information Department and played a key role in addressing the problems of migrant workers in the state in amid the coronavirus restrictions.
The order to replace Captain Manivannan with Maheshwar Rao, another IAS officer, came Monday night and triggered online campaigns on change.org to ‘bring back’ the captain.
Manivannan had held two positions: the chief secretary of the labor department and that of the information and public relations department. Two months ago, even when the first virus cases were reported in Karnataka, he had launched a unique group of ‘Crown Warriors’ based on volunteers through social messaging services like Telegram.
Initially, the movement was intended to combat the false news related to the coronavirus, as it was causing confusion and panic among the masses. Finally, this volunteer base was used to work with the government and the police to effectively implement the blockade, help distribute aid to migrant workers and those in distress.
The transfer orders come amid reports that Manivannan had been defending workers’ rights at a time when various sections of the industry were trying to relax labor laws on the pretext that the shutdown had severely affected sectors manufacturing and construction. A lobby has been created to also incorporate the UP model on labor laws.
One such lobbying group, the Bangalore Employers Association, apparently even wrote to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa seeking a change in “leadership in the labor department” as the labor secretary “instigated” workers to file complaints against their own employers who were not in a position to pay wages during the lockdown. The association in its letter stated that more than 700 workers had filed complaints against their employers through the labor department’s website after this effort.
However, if this was the reason for Manivannan’s ouster, it is unclear why he retired from the Information department post.
Hours after the transfer order, without another post, citizen groups began an online campaign to get the government to hold him in a general effort against Covid-19.
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