India News

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India has reportedly spiked the move of the state government to transfer a few ‘uncooperative’ district collectors on the grounds that they are engaged in the revision of electoral rolls and hence should not be disturbed.

“The state can shift a collector only if there is a specific complaint against him or her,” an EC official told TOI. While the commission said it has already conveyed its position to the state government, the latter said they are yet to receive any communication to this effect from the EC.

The “controversial” collectors the government wanted to shift are those of Krishna and Anantapur districts. According to sources, Krishna collector Shailaja Ramaiyer is reported to have angered the ruling party leaders by refusing to allot fish tank land in the Kolleru lake to aqua farmers. She is also said to be non-cooperative in identifying and allotting land to major companies who want to start thermal plants in the prohibited coastal corridor zones.

Ramaiyer, who was posted as Krishna collector in March this year, first told Congress leaders that there was no surplus land to be distributed to the aqua farmers in the Kolleru lake area. This reportedly had the farmers up in arms. They had been paraded before Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar as fishermen who lost their livelihood due to restoration of the lake recently.

According to sources, the earlier collector is said to have identified 7,500 acres as surplus. But his successor Ramaiyer, after surveying the land, informed the government that the land was part of the lake. As a result, the state had to forward a proposal to the Union government requesting it to reduce the size of the Kolleru sanctuary from contour level four to three so that land could be restored to the farmers in five assembly segments in Krishna and West Godavari districts.

After this, Ramaiyer rubbed the government the wrong way on the issue of allotment of land in the CCR zones to four companies. According to sources, the government wants to transfer her because her continuance is likely to put the electoral prospects of the Congress in jeopardy in the next elections.

Similarly, pressure from a senior minister in Anantapur district is said to be the reason behind the move to transfer collector N Sridhar. Sridhar’s neutrality at the time of elections is likely to harm the interests of the party, according to a Congress leader.

In all, the state identified five district collectors to be transferred and sought permission from the EC for the same. Sources said the EC letter is likely to reach them by Monday.