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| No public, nor public representatives in secretariat | | ‘Ministers are either in Delhi or in their constituencies' | | Bashir Assad
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: At a time when the Jammu and Kashmir State is reeling under economic crises more so because of the limited plan size approved by the Planning Commission of India, the Ministers in Omar Abdullah led coalition Government have virtually turned the civil secretariat defunct by their conspicuous absence from their offices.
Though the absenteeism is phenomenal among J&K Ministers, however, for last two or three months most of them have stayed away from their offices bringing work in the secretariat to a grinding halt. The trend has subjected the public to great inconvenience.
Even the employees including the top bureaucrats in the civil secretariat Srinagar express displeasure over the functioning of the ministries. "Either they don't want to work or are scared of people who have voted for them," said a senior official requesting not to be named. "The civil secretariat reminds me of the Governor's Rule during early 90's, it presents the same picture, no public representative and no public," the official said adding that the number of visitors to the civil secretariat has considerably gone down due to absence of Ministers from the civil secretariat. He said the important files were gathering dust on the tables of Ministers rendering the administrative secretaries handicapped.
"The Ministers have become constituency centric. They either spend time in their constituencies or remain out of state to seek blessings of their mentors in New-Delhi" said a senior bureaucrat.
"A Minister holding important portfolio of Public Works is hardly seen in his office because he spends more than 15 days in a month in New-Delhi and 8 to 10 days in his constituency and the department is suffering hugely because of his absence from the office" said the officer.
A senior Congress leader who is a regular visitor to the civil secretariat told Early Times that the Government was missing from the seat because every Minister is Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir except the Chief Minister.
"We don't have Ministers, 25 Chief Ministers", said he adding "Ministers could either be traced in their respective constituencies or in the J&K House Chanakyapuri in New-Delhi."
A senior political worker of ruling National Conference said that the civil secretariat employees have a three-day week while as Ministers have single-day week, but nobody knows which day each one of them have fixed.
The secretariat employees mince no words in asserting that the "vital public offices there" have turned defunct in absence of Ministers. "Work in the departments involving public dealing has come to a grinding halt. Though higher ranking officials reach the offices but are not able to work in absence of the in-charge Ministers. You need the presence of Ministers if you want to do some work," said a senior bureaucrat. |
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