Delhi CM-designate Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday reinforced his stand on the need for an honest bureaucracy in his Government. In what has now been a trademark ‘AAP style’, he has now asked all the ‘honest’ officers to approach him through SMS or mail so as to fill various departments of the Delhi Government.
“We are committed to our manifesto points. People’s expectations are immense, but all can’t be done by us alone. We are aam aadmi, and to work toward the common good of people we will need a team of honest and efficient officers,” Kejriwal said, while addressing Janta Darbar outside his party office in Kaushambi. He then went on to request interested Delhi Government officials to contact him so as to hold a strong office.
“I would like to request all honest state officers to reach me through SMS or e-mail. We will depute them at good places in the Government. I don’t have a magic wand to solve all the problems, but if good, honest and efficient people join us nothing is impossible,” he said. The Delhi Government has numerous departments out of which the most important ones are Finance, Transport, Urban Development, Power, Health, Education, PWD and Revenue. Soon after declaring on December 23 that his party is ready to form the Government, Kejriwal along with other members of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) which include second in-command Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and Yogendra Yadav got busy with the task of deciding on the Ministers for the Cabinet and Principal Secretaries of various departments. Kejriwal has already decided on the name of present Principal Secretary of Information and Technology (IT) and Higher Education departments Rajendra Kumar as one of the Principal Secretaries.
Coming as a harbinger of hope for 'honest' suspended officers, Kejriwal said that he would help clearing their pension, medical and other dues once they approach him.
Beaming with confidence about his party and its intentions, Kejriwal said, “For the first time, there is a Chief Minister who is looking for honest officials to work for him. In most cases, whenever a new CM comes, he or she looks for those officials who can earn them commission through corruption,” he said. If honest officials join us, it can help us giving a corruption-free Government, he added.
When asked how AAP would verify if somebody is ‘honest’ and ‘efficient’, he replied, “We have a reliable network and we will find out. A team of officials which has Rajendra Kumar in it are looking for honest and dynamic officials. They will pick the best among those who have shown interest and even those who did not contact, and good positions will be given to them,” Kejriwal said in a reassuring tone.
Speaking about the problems facing people, Kejriwal said he will take the help of a team of experts from premier institutes like Indian Institute of Technology or Indian Institute of Management as and when required. “We cannot fix everything ourselves. We will certainly reach out to talented, experienced and committed people,” he said.