Dead Man Transferred

Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan, yahaan sab chaltha hai aur ho sakta hai. Even the dead are issued directives. It is difficult to say if such things are done by some who enjoy pranks are by those who are incompetent.

It’s an amazing true story. For three years, a dead officer has been working in the excise department of Maharashtra government and drawing salaries. The person concerned is Sandeep Sabale, who used to work in Daulat cooperative sugar factory of Halkarni in Kolhapur. Sabale met with a road accident and subsequently passed away in July 2013.

But the government had no clue about the death of this officer. In fact Sabale was transferred on July 3, 2016 and was told to join the state excise vigilance department immediately.

The truth came out when the ‘ghost’ could not travel and take up the new assignment. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was in charge of the excise department when the transfer order of Sabale from Kolhapur to Nashik was signed.

The transfer order states: “We are also reliving the officer and he should take charge without any delay. The order has to be followed strictly. The superintendent of the Nashik should not also delay in giving the charge.”

RTI activist Anil Galgali said: “Sabale died three years ago in a road accident. Now, after three years of his death, the chief minister has asked him to join the Nasik vigilance department. The CMO must have misguided the chief minister.”

Meanwhile, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that this is clear-cut case of a clueless government. “The transfer has happened with the sign of chief minister Fadnavis, so he is solely responsible for this goof-up. We really do not know how many such dead men are working and drawing salaries. This matter has to be investigated at a high level and the guilty should be strictly punished,” Malik said.

The wife of the dead, who is not dead for his department  Varsha Sabale, expressed surprise that her husband was still ‘working for the government’. Ironically, Varsha has applied for a government job in PT case. “My husband was working as a police sub-inspector at the Daulat cooperative sugar factory since 2006. He died in an accident at Kolhapur highway. After his death, I had applied for a clerical job three years ago. So far, I have not got any response,” said Varsha Sabale.

“My husband was the sole earner in our family. After his death, the financial responsibility has come on my shoulders. My in-laws are senior citizens. Therefore, the government should give me employment,” Varsha added.

How could she get any job? Her husband was ‘alive’.