Noted human rights activist and Padmashree awardee Avdhash Kaushal today demanded that IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal be honoured by the Centre for fearlessly clamping down on the mining mafia in Uttar Pradesh.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kaushal demanded an honour for Nagpal and asked him to make an announcement in this regard from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15.
Describing Nagpal as a brave officer who had set an example for other civil service officers to follow by acting fearlessly against the powerful mining mafia in Uttar Pradesh, Kaushal said it will be in the fitness of things to announce an award for her on Independence Day.
Nagpal, the 28-year-old SDM of G B Nagar, who led the crackdown on sand mining mafia in her district, was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for ordering demolition of a mosque's wall allegedly without following the due process.
Accusing Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of treating bureaucrats as his party's functionaries, Kaushal warned the prime minister not to let himself be "blackmailed" by the SP supremo.
