The Hindu : 'Follow up Govt. proposals in Delhi'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 22, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

'Follow up Govt. proposals in Delhi'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE JUNE 21. The lapse on the part of officers to visit New Delhi and follow up the State Government's proposals is one of the reasons for the glaring disparity in allotment of Central funds and foodgrains to the State, the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, said here today.

Mr. Krishna, who was addressing a meeting of principal secretaries and secretaries of various departments, said while the State had a competent bureaucracy, it was found that the officers were not going to Delhi to pursue the Government's proposals. On the other hand, officers of other States periodically visited Delhi and as a result those States got higher allocation of funds and benefits from the Centre. The delivery system from Delhi to Bangalore would not be successful unless officers followed up the Government proposals in Delhi.

The Chief Minister, referring to the three-hour meeting of the Council of Ministers yesterday to discuss governance reforms, said this was to ensure that the benefits of various programmes reached the targetted sections as people expected the Government to perform and improve their quality of life.

The Government, Mr. Krishna pointed out, was spending Rs.10,000 crores a year on development works. Unless there was accountability and commitment on the part of officers, the Government's efforts would go waste. The officers should, therefore, implement the programmes with a human touch keeping the rural people in mind as 80 per cent of the people lived in villages.

On delays in administration, the Chief Minister told the officers that the delivery system would succeed only if the projects were implemented on time.

There should be commitment and delegation of responsibilities, as the governance would not improve unless the delivery system was decentralised, he added.

Mr. Krishna asked how many officers devoted some time to inspect projects or the work of junior officers in the normal course and asked them to tour villages to understand the ground realities. Such a visit by senior bureaucrats would solve half the problems of the people. In his introductory remarks, the Chief Secretary to Government, A. Ravindra, said the first meeting on governance reforms held in April had identified certain issues and they included delay in the processing of files and delegation of more powers to the district administration and the system of inspection.

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