Yogi Adityanath in consolidation mode: Disbands government schemes, posts

UP govt departments are asked to abolish non-essential schemes and posts before the state Budget is prepared

Taking yet another austere step, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is getting into the consolidation mode to disband hordes of government schemes, which have outlived their utility and relevance.

Besides, non-essential government posts would also be abolished for a leaner administrative machinery.

Adityanath has already issued directives to this effect, following which the UP chief secretary has constituted two separate committees to identify non-essential government schemes and posts in every department.

The government departments are customarily asked to abolish non-essential schemes and posts before the state Budget is prepared every year. However, it is never taken seriously and routinely brushed under the carpet. But the present dispensation has decided to act in right earnest.

While the schemes deemed non-relevant would be discontinued, the employees working on the posts to be disbanded would be redeployed in other departments.

The two committees would confer with the various departments and later submit a report to the state government for action.

Last year, National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog had also suggested the Adityanath regime for reorganising the state ministries and departments for better governance, accountability and swifter decision making.

The Aayog had even submitted a roadmap to this effect and the state had expressed its willingness to act. However, it has yet not been implemented upon, although the Adityanath government is due to complete a year in office on March 19, 2018. For example, in the health sector, there are three different ministries functioning in the state, which needs to be clubbed into one.

On his last visit to Lucknow on November 9 to review the progress in the different sectors, Niti Aayog CEO Rajiv Kumar had claimed the Aayog was satisfied with the progress made by the Adityanath government, especially since June 2017, when specific timelines and parameters were set. He said Uttar Pradesh had more than achieved the targets in some sectors.

In consultation with Niti Aayog, the UP government has constituted 9 committees related to the various socio-economic development verticals viz. nutrition, health, education, drinking water, rural development, irrigation, water resources, industry, agriculture and sanitation.

Rajiv Kumar had observed the UP faced a tough challenge in the urban housing and outdoor defecation free (ODF) targets even as he lauded the state for progress with regards to the labour laws, Prime Minister Awas Yojana and appointment of Ayush doctors.

“Niti Ayog is working as a partner with the different states and not conducting as a central body like the erstwhile Planning Commission. That is the reason I have been visiting the different states and meeting their chief ministers to know their specific needs,” Kumar added.

He said Niti Ayog would hold workshops to be conducted by experts for the state level working groups for mentoring them on best practices in governance and giving them contemporary exposure.