Badal Asks Officers To Regularly Monitor Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Adopt Futuristic Approach For Planning To Ensure Overall Development

5 Dariya News

Chandigarh 03-May-2012

Punjab Chief Minister  Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the top brass of the civil administration of the state government to keep a close liaison with Government of India for getting centrally sponsored schemes sanctioned for the state on the top priority. Presiding over a maiden meeting of the Financial Commissioners, Principal and Administrative Secretaries after taking over as Chief Minister of the state for the second consecutive term of SAD-BJP alliance,  Badal asked them to personally meet the concerned officers in Centre so as to make optimum utilization of these schemes and also offered his support by way of personal intervention wherever needed to get these schemes through and funds released. He underscored the need to develop a knack for human relationship which was the basic factor to get the desired results through maintaining cordial relations.  He also asked the officers to never shy of meeting the officials of lowest rung in the different departments and ministries of GoI’s for the development of the state in the public interest.  Badal said that he never hesitated to meet even such officials for the welfare of the state and had been immensely benefitted by this approach for getting many schemes and plans sanctioned for Punjab and reminded them that communication gap often leads to alienation which must be bridged up through regular visits and meetings.  He also asked the officers to regularly coordinate with the concerned departments and ministries in the GoI to keep them updated on the central schemes announced from time to time.  Badal asked the officers to maintain decorum and punctuality in the offices and should be available in offices from 9 am to 5 pm on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to carryout official work besides listening to the grievances of the general public and directed them to keep their field visits and tours on other days.   Badal categorically said that no complacency would be tolerated at any level in terms of ensuring good governance, clean and accountable administration.   He also asked the officers to shun the practice of operating from camp offices at their residences.   The Chief Minister also sought their cooperation in curbing the practice of wasteful and unproductive expenditure thereby resorting to austerity measures for improving the fiscal health of the state. Outlining the priorities of the government to develop the best infrastructure to propel the tempo of growth and development in the state especially in the key sector of education, health and social security, the Chief Minister impressed upon the officers to evolve a blue print in view of the felt needs of the people.  He said that the myopic outlook would not help them in achieving the objective of long term planning especially in the wake of world becoming a global village.  Badal categorically asked the officers to be objective while assessing the performance of the employees.  The practice of writing ACRs in a routine manner must be done away with, adding,  Badal said hard working and sincere employees must be rewarded but at the same time incompetent must be punished.  He also asked them to meticulously review the performance of a government employee attaining the age of 55 before recommending three years extension to him till superannuation at the age of 58 years.   Badal said that he was yet to come across such case in his long political career where any employee had been denied this extension meaning thereby all employees were above the board.  He said; “We must change our perception while judging the competence of an employee, which should be solely based on the basis of merit rather than whims and fancies”.  Therefore, the practice of continuation of service beyond the age of 55 years should not be a matter of routine.  He advised the officers to motivate the staff working under them to develop a work culture.Taking a serious note of non receipt of foreign tours reports from the officers on their return, the Chief Minister lamented that despite spending heavily on such visits he had hardly received any report so far from any officer till date.  He also asked them to give suggestions for improvement in the general administration and speed up the overall development by incorporating the same in the process of planning.   He advised them to frequently visit the state especially the countryside to get the first hand information about the functioning of their departments.  He hoped it would be doubly beneficial to them firstly in grasping the ground realities and bottlenecks, if any and secondly the interaction with people at grass root levels thereby improving the working of their departments in result-oriented manner. Asking the officers to remain loyal to the chair,  Badal said that change of guards in the governments was a natural phenomena and they were expected to abide by the moral values for performing their duties with utmost devotion, dedication and honesty keeping them aloof from the political affiliations. Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Secretary  Rakesh Singh asked the administrative secretaries to regularly reports on important decisions taken by Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers.  He also directed them to minutely study the status of tenders in infrastructure projects especially from the point view of prequalification terms and conditions.