CELEBRATION TIME
Some IAS officers with their spouses singing a ‘Holi’ song at the cultural programme organised at Raj Bhawan on Thursday evening. Governor Ram Naik had hosted a dinner for IAS officers on the occasion of IAS Week.
LUCKNOW: Amid ongoing battle for supremacy between the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) in the state, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday told the IAS officers to show large heartedness and behave like big brothers with other services.
“Officers of other cadres feel the IAS officers formulate rules for themselves and also get their own promotions,” said the chief minister in a lighter vein while looking at DGP Sulkhan Singh and asking him, “Is it correct?”
Yogi was addressing senior administrative officers conference organized on the occasion of IAS Week that commenced here on Thursday. Yogi’s observations become significant in the backdrop of the ongoing tussle betw een the IAS and the Indian Police Service officers following recent letters from chief secretary Rajive Kumar and DGP Sulkhan Singh. In his letter, the DGP had opposed the chief secretary’s circular asking the DM’s to preside over meetings to review crime in their respective districts.
Playing the balancing act, Yogi said the DMs and SPs should dispose of the grievances of the people jointly and establish regular communication with the people as well. He said to provide quality administration, there was need to decentralise the administration at the district level as well. “It’s not possible for an officer to dispose of all the responsibilities. The officers should work in coordination. It will not only make their work easy but get better result as well,” he said.
Yogi said one was identified by his/her work and not by holding a big post. He said IAS officers should lead by example.
In an obvious bid to boost morale of IAS officers, Yogi quoted work of TN Seshan as chief election commissioner and said the former IAS officer was still known for his commendable work.
He lauded work of some DMs, including that of DM Indore to make his point how officers could make a difference in their respective fields. Yogi said his government would support officers doing good work even if they erred at some point. The government would, however, act tough if the officers did something with bad intentions, he said.
“Chief minister’s speech was inspiring at both the sessions on Thursday,” said UP IAS Association secretary Alok Kumar. In an obvious reference to questions being raised over role of DMs in mining in some districts, the CM said there was no end to complaints about illegal mining. The state government was committed to root out corruption, he said.
Yogi said a declining trend had been witnessed so far as the performance of IAS officers was concerned.
He said some officers were in the habit of sitting over files instead of taking decisions. He said these officers would have to get into the habit of expediting the decision making process.