The prime minister on Monday called a meeting of Yadav, Hada and other senior irrigation ministry officials at Singha Durbar in his bid at reconciliation between Yadav and the ministry officials, who have demanded action against the minister for his rudeness toward Hada over the issue of transfers. [break]Hada is the only female secretary.
"At the meeting with the prime minister, the minister denied having used abusive language with the secretary. But we all, including the secretary, told the prime minister that Yadav was lying," an official who was present at the meeting told Republica, "We told the prime minister that we will not reconcile with the minister until he apologizes before all staffs at the ministry."
The minister remained silent in the face of the allegations. "He just smiled as the 20 of us pulled him up in front of the prime minister," said the official requesting anonymity.
But the prime minister, according to another official, asked the minister and the ministry officials to realize their mistakes and reconcile saying there is no alternative to patching up.
"We told the prime minister that we will not work with the minister unless he realizes his wrongdoing and commit in writing to bring reforms at the ministry," said the official.
As the minister did not apologize for using abusive language and the bureaucrats kept sticking to their stance, the meeting ended inconclusively, said the official.
Damage to irrigation amounts to Rs 2.42 billion