Gautam Budhh Nagar, March 30 (IANS): District Magistrate BN Singh on Monday applied for three-month earned leave on personal grounds and expressed his wish not to continue in the coveted post.

Though there was no confirmation from the senior officer on the development, his purported leave application went viral on the social media after Singh and other senior district officials held a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Monday, during which the latter had allegedly reprimanded BN Singh for the district's coronavirus cases which are the highest in whole Uttar Pradesh.

Singh maintained that he had been working 18 hours a day to fulfil his duties but now did not wish to continue in the district due to accusations of incapability.

In his leave application, Singh urged the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary for the appointment of another officer in his place so that there was no effect on the ongoing efforts to contain the coronavirus spread in the district.

When IANS contacted his staff, they said that any confirmation or denial on the issue could only come from the senior officer.

Yogi Adityanath had held the meeting on efforts made to tackle the coronavirus spread amid a 21-day nationwide lockdown.

A visibly angry Chief Minister had said that the spike in coronavirus suspected and confirmed cases was due to official apathy and negligence and their tendency to play politics against each other.

During an inspection of different places in Gautam Budhh Nagar, Yogi Adityanath said that the current situation was a result of lax imposition of the lockdown in the district.

The meeting on the Gautam Buddh University campus came in the wake of 34 suspected and confirmed coronavirus positive cases in the district that adjoins Delhi.

Sources said that though officers get long duration leave in normal circumstances, but approvals for the same are not possible during crisis situations.