New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Government has removed M. Lokesh, a 2003-batch IAS officer, from his post as Chief Executive Officer of the Noida Authority and placed him on the waiting list, following intense criticism of the state administration and the bureaucracy after the death of a young software professional in Sector 150 of Noida.
Lokesh, who had been serving as CEO since July 2023 and was widely regarded within administrative and political circles as an officer close to Chief Minister Adityanath, was entrusted with one of the most influential and politically sensitive urban districts in the state, making his removal particularly significant within bureaucratic circles.
The tragedy has drawn widespread outrage after it emerged that the victim remained alleged dereliction of duty. trapped for more than two and a half hours, during which no effective rescue operation was mounted, before he ultimately died.
The episode attracted sharp criticism not only across India but also inter- nationally, with observers questioning how such a prolonged rescue failure could occur in a high-pro- file urban district under a state government that has consistently projected a strong governance and infrastructure narrative.
Questions were repeated- ly being raised about why basic rescue tools, trained response teams, and emer- gency protocols were miss- ing, despite Uttar Pradesh receiving substantial al- locations every year under disaster-relief frameworks.
The controversy had be- gan to visibly dent the care- fully built image of good governance associated with the Chief Minister over the past several years. While CM Adityanath himself remained largely politically untainted, the said cannot be said about the state bureaucracy, particularly officials perceived to be operating with a sense of insulation due to their prox- imity to power.
The action against Lokesh is also being viewed as part of a broader pattern in which contro- versies linked to senior bureaucrats close to the Chief Minister have drawn scrutiny extending beyond Uttar Pradesh, including in New Delhi.