The Assam government on Saturday suspended a senior civil service officer after an official report on the flood situation in the state had a photograph (above) from the 2014 Bangladesh floods instead of that from the current crisis in the region, reported The Indian Express. The 10-page report was handed over to Home Minister Rajnath Singh by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday.
The report had nine pictures, of which one was of the neighbouring country earlier published in British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail in 2014. The journalists who attended the event on Saturday pointed out the faux pas. The home minister was visiting the state to review the situation. Later that day, in a press release, Sonowal said Madhumita Bhagaboty, Civil Sub-Divisional Officer of Kaliabor in Nagaon district, was placed under suspension with immediate effect for the error.
The statement said Bhagaboty had forwarded a picture to the government WhatsApp group that showed a person rescuing a deer in a flooded area. She has said that the photo was from Kaziranga National Park, which has been badly hit by floods. Following this, the photograph was included in the government report, only to be discovered later that it was not from the country. The statement warned officers of stern action "if they discharged their duties in an irresponsible manner".
The chief executive officer of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, Dipak Kumar Sarma, also sent an “urgent corrigendum” via e-mail, and said “a pictorial error has occurred inadvertently showing photograph of rescue of a spotted deer which is not related to Assam” in the interim report submitted to the union home minister.
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