Prison minister’s raid finds clerks in snooze mode

LUCKNOW: Prison minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia caught his department’s clerks napping, literally, here on Monday.

When Ramoowalia walked in to the department’s with a battery of his staff in the afternoon, he found the clerks posted in various sections of the department busy gossiping, playing online games or sipping tea. The clerks were caught off guard as the minister moved from one table to another to check if they were disposing of the routine works and clearing the department files. The minister was furious as he found the clerks whiling away their time and some of them snoozing.

Even as Ramoowalia pulled up the clerks, his staff caught an outsider in the section. Finding himself cornered, the person revealed his identity as Santosh Srivastava, a broker who worked as conduit between the family members of the under trials lodged in various jails and the clerks in the prison department. The minister handed him over to the police.

The cops recovered Rs 5,000 from Srivastava who was carrying the amount to hand over to a clerk. The entry of an outsider in the prison department on the third floor of the annexe (Lal Bahadur Shastri building), in which the chief minister’ office is located, raises question marks about the security of the secretariat as well.

Later, the clerks were summoned to the minister’s office. A majority of them feared strict action, but the minister let them off with a warning.

Talking to HT, Ramoowalia said, “During a review of the department, I found that works like installation of public call office (PCO), RO Water Purifier and CCTV in various jails was pending since long. It was found that clerks were delaying the clearance of the file. Several undertrials have applied for parole for attending the marriage or other important family work. I approved their application. Still, they failed to get parole. Again their application was stuck in the section as the clerks did not clear the file.”

“I was minister in the central government and am known for efficient working. I cannot tolerate delay in the implementation of projects and exploitation of the common people. I decided to conduct a raid in the section and catch the clerks red handed. I did not take action against them as I decided to give them an opportunity to mend their ways. I warned them of strict action if they fail to make amends,” Ramoowalia said.

Later, newly appointed principal secretary (prison) Debashish Panda met the minister and discussed issues of immediate consideration. A discussion was also held on the implementation of the projects and the disposal of the pending works.

I cannot tolerate delay in the implementation of projects and exploitation of the common people. I decided to conduct a raid in the section and catch the clerks red handed. BS RAMOOWALIA, prison minister