In the video, the Assam Chief Minister can be heard admonishing the officer
An IAS officer who had cleared the path for Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's cavalcade has been reprimanded by the Chief Minister himself after the order resulted in a massive traffic jam. A video of the incident with the Chief Minister admonishing the officer for promoting "VIP Culture" has gone viral on social media.
The incident happened on National Highway 37 near Gumotha Gaon in Nagaon district when Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nisarg Hivare ordered to hold up traffic for security reasons. When the Chief Minister arrived, he saw the huge traffic jam and stopped his car and got down to know the reason. He apparently got annoyed and yelled at the officer for the order. He later said that VIP culture won't be allowed in the state.
"DC sahab yeh kya natak hai? Gadi kyun rukwaya hai? Koi raja, maharaja aa raha hai kya? Aisa mat karo. Logo ko kasht ho raha hai. Gadi jane do (What is this drama, DC sahab? Why have these vehicles been stopped? Is a king coming here? This should not happen again. People are suffering, let the vehicles go)," Mr Sarma was heard saying.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said the incident took place despite clear directions from him "not to create inconvenience for people during my visit. For over 15 mins, NH was blocked including ambulances," he said.
However, many on social media criticised the Chief Minister for yelling at the officer "for just doing his work".
Mr Sarma later took to Twitter and said: "In our state we want to create a culture where DC,SP or any govt servant /public rep-irrespective of background,intellectual capacity or popularity will work only for the people, changing babu mindset is a tough, but we are determined to achieve our goal-Janta hi Janardhan."