As Cong MLAs sulk, Capt asks officers to give them due respect

CM ALSO WARNS PARTY LEGISLATORS AGAINST POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN GOVERNANCE

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed deputy commissioners (DCs) and administrative secretaries to address all issues raised by MLAs about the problems of the common man and apprise them of the action.

Amarinder, however, made it clear during his meetings with officials that political interference of any kind would not be tolerated in matters of governance.

The CM’s diktat comes after resentment among Congress MLAs, who had met Amarinder and Congress state chief Sunil Jakhar over the last week, complaining that administrative secretaries and DCs were not according them “due respect and still taking orders from Akali leaders”. Jakhar was also present at the meeting as Amarinder told officers that MLAs needed to be heard and given respect as elected representatives of people. The Congress MLAs from Ludhiana district had earlier complained against then Ludhiana police chief Kunwar Pratap Singh leading to his transfer.

Amarinder’s bid to keep political interference to the minimum in running the administration by reposing his faith on top officers in his government, is leading to heartburn among the party MLAs, who claim the bureaucracy had “cold-shouldered” them even during the 10 years of the SAD-BJP rule.

Taking cognisance of the 30,000 pending service-related cases against government employees, Amarinder directed scrapping of all frivolous cases to restore the confidence of the employees and enable them to function in a free and fair manner.

He also ordered Rs 10 meals to be made available under the government’s Sanjhi Rasoi scheme in all districts by July 1, 2017. He set a deadline of July 31 for the completion of joint verification of beneficiaries for pension and atta-dal schemes, with DCs to act as nodal officers.

Stressing the need for the government to be prepared for GST implementation from July 1, the CM asked the administrative secretaries to formulate schemes and programmes to take forward the government agenda, with year-wise targets clearly defined.

Addressing the administrative officers, Amarinder called for better coordination between the irrigation and agriculture departments to ensure adequate supply of clean canal water for crops, especially cotton.

He also ordered for taking the cases registered against those responsible for distribution and sale of spurious insecticides and pesticides during the previous regime, to a logical end.