Chhatrapati Shivaji statue crash: Sindhudurg Collector shunted; post downgraded

Mumbai, Sep 3 (IANS) In the first major fallout of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue crash at Rajkot Fort, the Maharashtra government has abruptly transferred the Sindhudurg Collector and surprisingly downgraded the post to a non-IAS junior administrative level category, raising eyebrows in different circles.

Accordingly, Sindhudurg Collector Kishor S. Tawade has been moved to an innocuous posting and replaced by Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd Managing Director Anil A. Patil.

The shunting orders came exactly a week after the 28-feet tall Chhatrapati figurine erected on a 10-feet high platform at Rajkot Fort in the picturesque Malvan seaside town, crashed down, ostensibly due to bad weather conditions.

Tawade will be the new Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation Ltd, in Pune, and Patil will be the new Sindhudurg Collector, which has a pristine 120-km long west coastline on the Arabian Sea.

Both officers -- Tawade and Patil -- have been directed to take charge of their new assignments on top priority, as per the transfer orders issued late on Monday by the General Administration Department (GAD).

“The question is why such a prestigious post of Collector of Sindhudurg -- a major coastal district bordering Goa state with strategic significance -- has been suddenly downgraded to a non-IAS junior administrative level position,” constitutional expert, Barrister Vinod Tiwari told IANS.

Tiwari said that though the government has the power to do it for 10 per cent of all the Collectorates in the state, the motives behind the Sindhudurg move at this sensitive juncture -- when the Maharashtra Assembly elections looming ahead -- are not clear.

It may be recalled that the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue collapse on August 26 triggered a major public outrage and political furore, with possible repercussions for the MahaYuti government with Assembly elections around the corner.

As the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), staged a series of aggressive protests across the state, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar apologised for the tragedy.

On August 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who was in Maharashtra for several engagements -- sprang a surprise by tendering a public apology with folded hands and bowed head, at a function in Palghar.

The PM’s unexpected apology and paying glowing tributes to the Chhatrapati were interpreted as throwing a lifeline to the besieged MahaYuti state government of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party.

Though the PM’s regrets for the incident somewhat punctured the Opposition’s agitations, the MVA leaders rejected it contending “it was conditional and casual”, and continued their aggressive protests in different parts of the state.

Meanwhile, the sculptor, Jaydeep Apte -- who created the ill-fated statue that was inaugurated by the PM on December 4, 2023, during the Navy Day celebrations -- is still absconding, while his associate and structural consultant Chetan Patil has been arrested by Sindhudurg Police.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)