AP CM pull up bureaucrats, says performance of some of them 'very bad'

For the first time since becoming Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister 26 months ago, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday pulled up bureaucrats, saying the performance of some of them was ''very bad'' and ''not acceptable''.

He said memos would be issued to all such officers who failed to perform their assigned tasks well.

''Issuing memos is a painful thing for me.

It's like issuing a memo on my own performance, as your failure is my failure,'' Jagan remarked.

At a videoconference with District Collectors on the public grievances programme 'Spandana', the Chief Minister took the officials to task by reading out statistics on their performance, in particular reference to the periodic inspection of village and ward secretariats.

''The village and ward secretariats are our brainchild. If we dont own them, progress will deteriorate. Regular inspection is the only way to improve the secretariats' performance,'' the Chief Minister said.

He asked the officials how would they appreciate the people's problems if they did not conduct field inspections.

''We are humans first and officers next. We need to first have a humane perspective.

If we overlook the poor man, we have failed in our duties,'' Jagan observed.

He reminded them that the Collectors were supposed to inspect two secretariats a week, while others like Joint Collectors, Municipal Commissioners and Sub-Collectors were required to inspect four each.

''While 1,098 field-level inspections had to be done, only 733 happened, which is only 66.75 per cent.

Collectors did 106 per cent and JCs (secretariats) did 107 per cent against the target. These officials have done well, Jagan said.

But he pointed out that three other Joint Collectors handling revenue, welfare and housing accomplished only 78, 85 and 49 per cent of the target (inspections).

The municipal commissioners achieved 89 per cent of the target, but the Integrated Tribal Development Agency Project Officers (18 per cent) and Sub-Collectors (21 per cent) lagged way behind, the Chief Minister said.

''The performance of these officers is very bad. This is not acceptable. You will also get memos from the CMO. There is no other option to ensure discipline,'' he said.

On the occasion, Jagan once again told the Collectors to ensure that only eligible persons derived the benefit of various freebie schemes.

''No ineligible person should get the benefits.At the same time, no eligible person should be denied,'' he stressed.

''You are my hands, eyes and ears. It is important for us to work as a team. Only through your field inspections will something good happen to the people,'' the Chief Minister summed up.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)