Maha govt to ask senior babus to make periodic field visits

Move comes after remarks from Devendra Fadnavis saying state bureaucracy was not fully co-operating with new govt

The Maharashtra government will soon instruct every Guardian Secretary to visit the district under his jurisdiction on the first Friday-Saturday of every month to oversee progress of development works.

Additional Chief Secretary of General Administration Department (GAD) P S Meena said that a Government Resolution (GR) in this regard will be issued next week.

The moves comes after remarks made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently that the state bureaucracy was not fully co-operating with the new government and this was posing a hurdle in implementing policies.

Fadnavis had also said that around 30 per cent of the state's higher bureaucracy and about 50 per cent of lower level bureaucrats are still reluctant to implement the policies and programmes of the government.

"Also, the bureaucrat will visit a district on the third Friday-Saturday of every month of which he is not the Guardian Secretary," he said.

A meeting was held recently by Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya with senior officials in this connection at the state secretariat.

Meena further said the government will restart the 'Memo Reading' system.

"The official manual states that senior officials should go and inspect all documents and files to check the status of works related to common people. Officers used to stay in tehsils for the 2-3 days, meet local villagers, talk to them about progress of the work and address their complaints," he added.

Meena said that the new GR will be issued as there are complaints of work not being done at grass-root level and that these complaints are reaching the Chief Minister directly on the 'Lokshahi Din.'

"Now officers will have to go and carry out inspections at district levels to check the status of work and make people aware of government schemes," he added.

Another bureaucrat of the GAD said that instructions have been given that if any officer of lower level is found to be delaying work, immediate action should be taken against him.