'Govt workers made to do domestic chores at Uttarakhand official's home'

Four Uttarakhand animal husbandry department employees were made to sweep floors and wash utensils at the Kumaon Commissioner's home, according to complaints by the workers' association.

Kumaon's Chief Veterinary Officer P S Bhandari confirmed to PTI that the employees had been briefly assigned to Kumaon Commissioner Rajiv Rautela's official residence in Nainital.

He said they were posted at the Nainital Raj Bhawan, the official residence of the state Governor, but had then been deputed at Rautela's home.

The president of the class IV employees association of the animal husbandry department in Nainital alleged that the posting at Raj Bhawan itself was at the behest of the commissioner.

Gopal Rawat, the association leader, added that sending them from there to the home of a government official was against the rules.

Bhandari said the transfer to Raj Bhawan has now been cancelled and the employees are back at their original places of posting.

The official refused to talk in detail about the matter and said the workers were at the commissioner's residence for just a few days.

Rajiv Rautela was earlier Gorakhpur's district magistrate and involved in a controversy during the recent bye-election for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Opposition parties had then accused him of withholding the results of some rounds of counting of votes for the seat vacated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Rautela was recently assigned Uttarakhand by the Centre.

The workers' association leader alleged that the Kumaon Commissioner made the employees do household chores like sweeping floors, chopping vegetables, washing utensils and walking the dog.

Rawat said the association had written to Nainital's Chief Veterinary Officer, asking him to remove the animal husbandry department workers from the commissioner's house.

They had threatened to intensify their agitation if this had not happen soon.