Violence-hit Saharanpur gets new commissioner, 19 IAS officers in attempt to reduce caste clashes

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government today posted senior IAS officer Dipak Agarwal as the new divisional commissioner of Saharanpur which has witnessed repeated instances of caste clashes since 5 May. [caption id=“attachment_3500391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] As many as 19 other IAS officers have also been transferred by the state government, an official spokesman said here. Secretary (revenue) Dipak Agarwal will be the new commissioner of Saharanpur in place of Mahendra Prasad Agarwal, who has been transferred to the finance department, an official spokesman said here. Secertary medical health and family welfare V Hekali Jhimomi has been made commissioner of Mirzapur in place of Ranjan Kumar who has been sent to revenue department as secretary, the spokesman said. Manoj Misra has been made the commissioner of Faizabad. Principal secretary to the chief minister, Shashi Goyal, has been given the additional charge of the additional resident commissioner of the state in New Delhi. Principal secretary Prashant Trivedi, who was awaiting posting, has been made the principal secretary of medical health and family welfare. Additional Commissioner,MNREGA, Anuj Kumar Jha has been made the Director Information, the spokesman added. Violence first broke out in Saharanpur about 40 days ago following a procession to mark Ambedkar Jayanti. On 5 May, a person was killed and 15 people were injured in clashes between Dalits and upper caste Thakurs. About a dozen police vehicles were set ablaze and 12 policemen were injured on 9 May. On 23 May, another person was shot dead and two others were wounded. On 24 May, the UP government had suspended Saharanpur SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey and district magistrate N P Singh while transferring divisional commissioner MP Agarwal and DIG— JK Shahi.