I met accident as driver had cataract: Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Jul 22: Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said in Lok Sabha on Monday that he had suffered a road accident in Maharashtra as his driver had impaired vision due to cataract in one eye and that a chief minister once told him that his driver was "blind in both eyes".
Piloting the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Gadkari's remarks were aimed at highlighting how many drivers employed with different governments are not medically fit, though they evoked laughter among the amused members.
Asked by an MP as to how the chief minister's driver functioned when he was "blind" in both eyes, Gadkari said he did so by hearing the sounds around him and cited the stuntmen who ride bikes blindfolded.
The minister, however, might have meant that the driver had impaired vision in both his eyes. He used the Hindi word 'andha' (blind) to describe it.
He did not name the chief minister.
A ministerial colleague also told him that his driver had impaired vision in one eye, Gadkari added.
Gadkari, then the leader of the opposition in Maharashtra legislative council, and his family members had met a serious accident in 2001 when their car rammed into a stationary truck at night.
He said in Lok Sabha that he later got to know that his driver had cataract in one eye and that many government drivers have a similar condition.
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15 IAS officers transferred in Haryana
Chandigarh (PTI): The Haryana government transferred 15 IAS officers with immediate effect on Wednesday.
Among those who have been transferred are Vineet Garg, Chairman, Haryana State Pollution Control Board. He has been posted as the additional chief secretary to the government's printing and stationery department, relieving Raja Shekhar Vundru of the charge, a government order said.
Ajay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram, has been transferred and posted as the deputy principal secretary-II to the chief minister against a newly-created post.
Pankaj Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, has been posted as the principal secretary in the architecture department, relieving Apporva Kumar Singh of the charge.
Saket Kumar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Commissioner and Secretary, Development and Panchayats Department, has been transferred and posted as the commissioner and secretary in the archives department, relieving Shekhar Vidyarthi of the charge.
Mani Ram Sharma, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, has been posted as the secretary in the health department, relieving Rippudaman Singh Dhillon of the charge.
