“Accusations of strike are completely false and baseless” cites IAS officers refuting misleading allegations by AAP

New Delhi, June 18: Refuting allegations of being ‘on strike’ by the Aam Aadmi Party, the Delhi IAS officers have finally spoken up and claimed that they are on an “undeclared strike.” Citing that the IAS officers were “working with utmost sincerity and dedication” and in a neutral manner, the officers cleared the rumors conducting a press conference with the media.

Revenue Secretary Manisha Saxena, Transport Commissioner Varsha Joshi, South Delhi District Magistrate Amjad Tak and Directorate of Information and Publicity Secretary Jaydev Sarangi claimed that they have been attending all the meetings conducted by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “We have been targeted and victimized and told that we are working with someone. We would like to inform that we are not on strike,” Ms. Saxena said.

The officers said misinformation was being spread about them, even though they were "apolitical" and "neutral" and were "answerable only to the law and the constitution". Calling the allegations "completely false and baseless", the officers said "We are not on strike. We are attending all meetings, doing all our work". They skip only the meetings in which they felt their "safety" and "self-respect" were at risk, they said. "Routine meetings and statutory meetings are different, we attend the latter," said IAS officer Manisha Saxena, adding, "We have no confidence, no one has reached out to us to boost our confidence".

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor of backing what he called the "strike" by the IAS officers. His government says work has been suffering for the last four months since the officers won't meet ministers or attend their phone calls.

Claiming that they feel threatened after the Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash’s incident, the IAS officers state that they have been doing all their work accordingly and attending all the assigned meetings till date. The officials also denied government allegations that work was suffering at mohalla clinics which are a project that earned praise abroad. Overall, 164 clinics are operational, 33 sites are ready for possession, "all officers participate in improving services for Delhi," the officer said.

Regarding last week's unattended meeting called by the Delhi Environment minister, the IAS officers said it was called on "very short notice". "The Environment Secretary could not reschedule his pre-scheduled meetings, he is also responsible for other departments," an officer said. The officers denied AAP claims that they were toeing the line of the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor.

Meetings on Public Interest have been on record and any meetings which have not been attended; a status quo has been submitted. Public meetings and statutory meetings are two different meetings and the team has been attending all the statutory meetings.

Clearing the misinformed air by the Aam Admi Party about IAS officers being on strike, the officers have washed away all the misleading allegations and claimed that they are working with utmost sincerity and dedication.