Author: Staff Reporter
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 16, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/183254/CM-sets-example-for-Ministers.html
Undeterred with the defeat of Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) in the recently held Parliamentary elections, Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan has started working afresh with confidence. In a series of quick
decisions, Chouhan wants to continue business 'as usual'.
The idea is to tone up the administration
and make it more transparent and accountable in the first measure. The bureaucrats
have been asked to come on time at State Mantralaya. He believes in leading
by example. These days, he's the first to arrive and stays till late evening.
He is also visiting villages randomly and staying overnight with the villagers.
The Chief Minister in the past told his Cabinet
colleagues to visit villages to know the ground realities of the schemes,
but hardly any Minister complied.
After the election din was over, the Chief
Minister himself launched a special drive to maintain transparency in the
administration. In the past one-and-a-half months he has visited several villages
and had night-halt in almost nine villages. During his inspection visits,
he has also sacked officials on finding irregularities in their functioning.
During his visits, Chouhan listens to the
problems of villagers and tries to solve them then and there. Any officer
found guilty of posing hurdles in implementation of Government schemes, are
punished on the spot. This has sent a message among the officials to work
properly. Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargava has come
up as front runner by accepting the advice of the Chief Minister. He publicly
told the officials in a function, "When the CM can stay in a village
in night, why can's the officials."
CM Secretariat sources claimed that such visits
would continue in future too. Chouhan has also urged the Ministers once again
to visit villages. Similarly, the field officials have also been asked to
stay in village at least once in a month to know the progress of Government
schemes.
