Lucknow: Kanpur Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Hari Dutt Nemi was suspended Thursday after days of public spat with District Magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh, a dispute that threatened to cause divisions with the state BJP with party MLAs taking sides.
After the suspension order, Nemi addressed a press conference here, alleging the DM was “pressuring” him to carry out “illegal” work, and went after him since the CMO denied to oblige.
During his suspension period, Nemi would be attached to the Directorate General and Medical Health Services in Lucknow. According to a government order issued Thursday, Shravasti Additional Chief Medical Officer Uday Nath has been appointed as the new CMO of Kanpur.
The district magistrate and the chief medical officer were locked in a public quarrel for days. At the centre of their fight are corruption allegations against Nemi and the CMO questioning Singh’s style of functioning. Singh sought the CMO’s removal.
Their fights also brought to the fore the differences within the BJP, with some MLAs siding with the CMO, while others with the DM.
Samajwadi Party claimed that while it may appear to be a case of two officers sparring, it is actually a fight between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Brajesh Pathak who is also state health minister.
A section of BJP legislators from Kanpur, including Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana, lobbied in favour of Nemi, urging the government not to remove him. Mahana wrote to Pathak Tuesday, defending the CMO’s conduct and urging he be allowed to continue in Kanpur.
Mahana praised Nemi’s “people-friendly” approach and effective implementation of government health schemes.
BJP MLC Arun Pathak and Govindnagar MLA Surendra Maithani wrote separate letters to the deputy chief minister, commending the CMO’s “respectful” behavior towards public representatives.
However, BJP MLA from Bithoor Abhijeet Singh Sanga took a different stand and wrote to Chief Minister Adityanath, rather than Pathak.
In his letter, Sanga accused Nemi of corruption and alleged the CMO was behind the circulation of controversial audio clips that allegedly maligned the district magistrate. He further claimed Nemi misbehaved with staff, disobeyed government orders, and manipulated doctor transfers for personal gain.
Former BJP MLA Neeraj Chaturvedi also waded into the controversy, alleging Tuesday that the assembly speaker, without naming him, is influencing the matter in favour of the CMO.
Chaturvedi sought a thorough investigation into the CMO’s working style.
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The controversy
The controversy began after DM Singh raised concerns over the functioning of the district’s health department last month. In a letter to the state government, he alleged serious irregularities in healthcare services, citing alleged deficiencies found during inspections of Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). He also mentioned alleged arbitrary transfers of doctors under Nemi’s tenure.
Singh accused the CMO of negligence and unprofessional conduct, and claimed this has contributed to the deteriorating state of health services in the district.
Tensions escalated after three audio clips, purportedly featuring CMO Nemi making derogatory remarks about the DM, surfaced on social media.
“This is the only DM in 75 districts who is taking credit for everything. If any meeting can happen in 20 minutes, he takes an hour to narrate stories from all around the world and exaggerates things. Now I am seeing women who go for meetings get irritated,” he was heard saying.
Nemi, however, denied it was his voice and claimed it was AI-generated.
The authenticity of these audio clips has not been independently verified by ThePrint.
But after the matter escalated following several complaints from health officials, district magistrate Singh wrote a letter to the principal secretary of health to remove the CMO, saying that several complaints had been received against him for not following government orders, mentally harassing district health officials and seeking bribes for transfer postings.
Also on Saturday, the DM confronted the CMO about the clips during a meeting. Nemi questioned the authenticity of the recordings, claiming they were manipulated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to malign his image.
Not satisfied with the response, the DM asked the CMO to leave the meeting.
Responding to the charges, Nemi reiterated his innocence and alleged a conspiracy to tarnish his image. He said his sole focus was to improve the functioning of the health department.
According to sources in the district administration, the DM had flagged instances of alleged negligence on part of the CMO during multiple surprise inspections over the last few months. He planned to take action after these visits.
The CMO had also been reportedly absent from the office for the past few days. In the meanwhile, a photo of a saffron towel purportedly placed on his chair went viral on social media, garnering a lot of attention.
Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai said, “The rift between officials and BJP MLAs is common in the state, but I feel that this issue is actually between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak. Common people are feeling betrayed by this government as corruption has not stopped.”
Bajpai hinted the DM is considered close to Chief Minister Adityanath and the CMO is in the good books of Deputy Chief Minister Pathak.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: Kanpur DM–medical officer spat exposes faultlines within UP BJP. Dy CM Pathak is caught in the middle
