From 95 to 57, UP proposes to trim number of depts

The Yogi government wishes to introduce a new system headed by sectoral commissioners for greater efficiency

LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government proposes to trim its size by bringing down the number of departments from 95 to 57 and introduce a new system headed by sectoral commissioners to oversee their functioning for greater efficiency.

A presentation on the trimming exercise was made before chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday to discuss modalities for implementation and assess the impact of new system on governance and delivery.

Much significance is being attached to the exercise as the government wants to reach out to the masses and ensure the delivery of government schemes at their doorstep ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Will the state government be able to implement the new system in a poll year? There are indications that the government wants to tread cautiously as the merger without proper preparations may lead to confusion in governance. “The chief minister has asked senior officers to look into the recommendations in details and study the merger along with its likely impact on governance,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.

Chief secretary Rajive Kumar said, “It’s only a preliminary exercise as more rounds of discussion are to take place.” Those associated with the exercise said the six-member committee headed by additional chief secretary, secondary education, Sanjay Agarwal had had more than four formal meetings. While recommending that the number of departments be brought to 57, the committee has not suggested any changes in structure of functioning of 31 major departments, including finance, excise, law and justice, secretariat administration and planning departments

etc. Creation of posts of three new commissioners (education commissioner, health commissioner and revenue resource commissioner) to oversee functioning of major departments of these sectors has been recommended.

The state government already has four commissioners, including social welfare commissioner, agriculture production commissioner, infrastructure and industrial development commissioner and the finance commissioner. The education commissioner will oversee education (basic), education (secondary education), higher education, sports and youth welfare, vocational education and skills development, technical education and employment. The health commissioner will have charge of medical and health, family welfare, food and drug administration, consumer affairs, weights and measures, ayush, women welfare, child development and nutritious food. The revenue resource commissioner will have minerals and

mining, transport, institutional finance, banking, stams and registration, tax and registration and excise departments.

“The post of infrastructure and industrial development commissioner had remained vacant for most of five-year tenure of Samajwadi Party government and the charge of IIDC remained with the chief secretary. The post of social welfare commissioner has also remained vacant on a number of occasions. The state government will have to evolve a system of making appointments on the posts of sectoral commissioners to make the new system work effectively,” said a senior officer. Besides Agarwal, the members of committee included principal secretary, home, Arvind Kumar, principal secretary, sugarcane development, Sanjay Bhoosreddy, principal secretary, energy, Alok Kumar, secretary, infrastructure and industrial development, Santosh Yadav with secretary, planning, Neena Sharma as convener.