Whither Janata Bhawan and administration?
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, June 23: All’s not well at Janata Bhawan – the nerve centre of the State administration. Lopsided workload among top officers, lack of punctuality among a section of employees, a section of officials adopting a laidback attitude, and frustration among a section of sincere officers together have had a negative cumulative impact on the administration, making it either stagnant or listless.
What is unjust is while some top officers with many capabilities have been given the responsibilities of some less important departments, a number of others have been heading the most important ones. The fact of the matter is that a few officers, who are smart enough to see through murky things, are instrumental in preventing corruption from taking place. A lobby, however, is overactive to get them transferred. This is not all. On the other hand, imbalanced workload is hurting a section of able officers.
The other dampener is lack of punctuality on the part of a section of employees. The office arrival time in the State has been advanced to 9.30 am from 10 am on the logic that the employees can render their services at least half-an-hour more. However, most of the employees reach Janata Bhawan around 10.30-11 am. There was a system of checking of entry of employees at the main gate of Janata Bhawan, and latecomers were denied entry. However, with time passing by, that has been proved to be a gimmick on the part of the State government. Now there is none to discipline such latecomers.
That apart, a section of officers has turned weak-kneed. They are reluctant to take risks. They prefer to stay away from taking any bold decision on their own. It’s not a good sign for any administration wanting to be vibrant.
It’s good that the Chief Minister is acting tough on corrupt officials. Of late, however, there is some talk that corruption and commissionraj are staging a comeback. The names of one or two officials of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) are also among the much-talked-about ones. If no tangible step is taken for a thorough overhaul of the State administration right now, the situation may go spiral out of control. Is the Chief Minister awake?