In a damage-control exercise after a member of his cabinet stirred a controversy by "misbehaving" with the widow of a government employee seeking a job for her son, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tonight instructed the chief secretary to complete the exercise of giving employment to the dependent of the deceased staff within a week.
The CM also instructed chief secretary A.K. Chaudhary to calculate within a week the arrears due to Radhe Singh, an employee of Rajendra Agriculture College, Sabaur, Bhagalpur district, who died in harness a couple of years ago, and make full payment to his wife Akelo Devi, who suffered the ire of agriculture minister Narendra Singh during a function at the college yesterday.
"The CM has given the chief secretary a week's time to give a job on compassionate ground to one dependent of Radhe Singh. The deceased employee's wife is at liberty either to have a job for her or nominate her son," sources in Chief Minister's secretariat said.
Narendra Singh had stirred a controversy by allegedly shoving Akelo Devi when the latter had approached him in public to vent her grievance about the non-payment of her husband's dues and sought a job for her son on compassionate grounds.
Though the minister denied having insulted the woman, TV news channels beamed the footage of him pushing the widow, triggering strong protest by main opposition RJD whose workers burnt an effigy of the minister in the state capital.
The RJD also demanded the resignation of the minister and sought his dismissal from the cabinet if he did not step down. -- PTI
