CHANDIGARH (TIP): Haryana minister Anil Vij on Nov 27 asked superintendent of police (SP) Sangeeta Kalia to “get out” of a meeting in Fatehabad.
But the IPS officer refused to leave, forcing a fuming Vij to walk out of the meeting in a huff.
The ugly spat between the two took place in presence of several others at the meeting at Fatehabad district panchayat office.
A video grab shows the minister getting agitated while asking Kalia about a complaint pertaining to unauthorized sale of liquor.
On being asked about the steps being taken to check the illegal liquor sale, Kalia claimed around 2,500 cases were registered under the Excise Act in the past 10 months, which was a “record”.
Vij was apparently not satisfied with the reply and as the two continued to argue before he asked her to “get out”.
BJP workers and others at the meeting too left with Vij, who said he will take up the matter with the cabinet.
Fatehabad deputy commissioner N K Solanki, who was at the meeting, tried to pacify Vij, but the minister refused to listen to him.
Vij had taken up the liquor smuggling issue at the meeting after an NGO complained to him about it.
“I will not attend the meeting till this SP is there in the district. She has behaved like this even in the past,” he said.
“We had complaints from local residents and the NGO that they were not getting any help from police in curtailing liquor smuggling from the border villages of Punjab.”
Kalia refused to comment while Congress’s state chief Ashok Tanwar said the BJP government has lost control over bureaucrats and official machinery within a year.
“…even its ministers are yet to learn how to deal with officers and the system.”