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| Will Omar take cue from Virbhadra Singh? | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 14: As Ministers continue to stay away from their offices in the Civil Secretariat in winter capital people coming from far off places of the State to meet them have to return without any redressal to their problems.
It is a common notion that ministers of the Congress-NC coalition have directives from their party high commands to attend to their constituencies so that voters are motivated to support them in the forthcoming elections for the Lok Sabha and the assembly in the state.
The fact that these very Ministers stayed away from their constituencies during the last five years is believed to have dented their local image which the two party high commands believe need to be retrieved quickly before the people go to vote for electing their representatives for the Lok Sabha and the state assembly in 2014. What happens to the larger interests of the people across the State because of the absence of ministers from their offices does not seem to bother the top bosses of either the Congress or the NC.
In sharp contrast to this, the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has made it mandatory for ministers to mark their attendance every day.
"The private secretary of every Minister has to inform the Chief Secretary's office about the daily schedule of the Minister," a senior official told a New Delhi based wire service recently. If the Minister is out of the Secretariat, the secretary has to inform the reason why he or she is absent, the official added.
However, it's still not clear what action Virbhadra Singh, who is in his sixth stint as the Chief Minister, will take against the Ministers for their short attendance.
The strength of the Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, is 11 against the 12 permissible under the statutory provisions.
Political observers say the Chief Minister's decision in this regard was a tactical move to put pressure on the ministers to devote more time in formulating and implementing government programmes and policies than touring the constituencies.
The government in 2010 made it mandatory for all IAS officers, Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service officers and nearly 1,400 other employees posted in the State Secretariat to mark attendance through the biometric system.
Would J&K government especially the State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah take a cue from his counterpart in Himachal Pradesh? |
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