An executive engineer of Irrigation Department in Etawah has sent his resignation letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, accusing a ruling BSP MLA of threatening him with dire consequences.
"Shivdas, posted in the First Tubewell Division in the district, has sent a letter to the chief minister accusing BSP MLA from Lakhna assembly constituency Bhimrao Ambedkar of issuing a threat to his life and has tendered his conditional resignation," official sources said today.
The engineer has also forwarded a copy of his letter to the minister concerned, the principal secretary, district magistrate, Etawah and few MLAs, they said in Lucknow.
However, Ambedkar today denied having issued any threats to the engineer. While Shivdas could not be contacted, sources said that he did not attend the marriage function of his son in Kanpur yesterday.
In his letter, Shivdas has said that the MLA called him up on February 19 and had discussed installation of hand pumps under Chaudhary Charan Singh Tubewell Project.
The engineer said that under the project, 24 sites were identified by a committee for installation of tubewells.
"However, as quality of water at three places was not found suitable for agriculture, a proposal to identify alternative sites was pending with the district magistrate."
Shivdas claimed that during the telephonic conversation, the MLA while alleging that installation of tubewell was not recommended in his area, used unparliamentary language.
"The MLA not only abused me, but also threatened me of an incident similar to that in Auraiya," he alleged. PWD engineer Manoj Gupta was beaten to death allegedly by BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his accomplices in Auraiya in 2008.
Ambedkar told reporters here, "I had talked to the engineer only to apprise him of the demand of the people and had not issued any threat. If this allegation is proved, I will resign from the membership of the Vidhan Sabha."
The MLA said that the engineer should have sent a copy of his letter to him as well.
Shivdas, in his letter, alleged that the MLA also threatened him with transfer.
"The MLA had issued similar threats in the past as well and the departmental minister was apprised of the situation.
Since then, Ambedkar had been continuously insulting and torturing me mentally," he alleged.
The engineer said that under such circumstances, it was difficult for him to execute his responsibilities as per the expectations of the government.
"Keeping in mind the entire incident and to avoid repetition of Auraiya engineer murder case and in view of security, I want to tender my conditional resignation. Please accept the same," he said.
