Two days after a horrific fire struck a recreation centre in Gujarat’s Rajkot, taking the lives of 27 individuals, the state government transferred the city’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Raju Bhargava (1995 batch IPS officer) and two other IPS officers – Ms. Vidhi Choudhary (2009 batch), the Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) and Dr. Sudhirkumar Desai (2012 batch), Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-2), and the Municipal Commissioner of Rajkot, Mr. Anand Patel (2010 batch IAS officer).
The Gujarat High Court had reprimanded the state government saying it had “no faith” in the state machinery “which gets into action only after innocent lives are lost” over purported lapses in the functioning of the TRP Game Zone where a massive fire resulted in the tragic death of 27 persons.
Mr. Brajesh Kumar Jha (1999 batch IPS), Special Commissioner of Police in Ahmedabad (Sector-2), was appointed the new CP of Rajkot. While Mr. Mahendra Bagria (2010 batch IPS officer), became the new ACP & Mr. Jagdish Bangarwa (2019 batch IPS officer), became the new Deputy Commissioner of Police. Mr. Anand Patel was replaced by Mr. DP Desai (2008 batch IAS officer) as the new Commissioner of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.
Ms. Bhavya Verma (2016-batch IAS officer), the incumbent Mission Director of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) in Gandhinagar, was asked to take up additional charge as the CEO of Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) & Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA).
