Delhi: Saurabh Bharadwaj accuses Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar of inaction over sexual harassment case in Burari

Dec 25, 2023

New Delhi [India], December 25 : Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Monday slammed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar for his "inaction" over the alleged sexual harassment of outsourced workers at Burari Hospital.
"This is very unfortunate that even in the case of such high sensitivity where allegations have been levelled by the women workers against their manager about seeking sexual favours, the chief secretary chose not to respond to the urgent note (regarding the incident) sent to him," Saurabh Bhardwaj told reporters here.
"One can imagine how the elected government functions and how the safety of women will be ensured when the chief secretary doesn't act on an urgent note. This is when so much hue and cry was created by the Delhi unit of the BJP in this particular incident," he added.
He asked whether the BJP will now demand action against the Chief Secretary.
The Minister stated that what was reported from the Burari Hospital was very shocking and required immediate action by the government machinery.
Saurabh Bharadwaj said that on Sunday, the dark rider (messenger) was sent along with the urgent UO note to the residence of chief secretary Naresh Kumar.
However, the staff at the residence of Naresh Kumar did not accept the UO note, saying that they had instructions not to accept any note, he said.
After that, the note was sent to the chief secretary through e-mail ID and the note was also physically delivered at the residence of chief secretary Naresh Kumar this morning, the minister said.
"After the recent amendment in the GNCTD Act by the Central Government, there is no control of the elected Delhi government over the officers. The officers are only accountable to the LG. Whenever there is an untoward incident, questions are asked of the elected government; however, all the control over the officer lies with the LG," Saurabh Bharadwaj said.