The State Government's latest plan to phase-wise separate and shift the directorates of different departments to towns and cities other than Ranchi is being seen more as a political gimmick of the ruling coalition rather than a concrete and effective step to improve the administrative mechanism of the State.
Former Chief Secretaries, senior bureaucrats and others feel that the proposal was not only impractical but also a random and non-assessed one, which would lead to further complications in governance and an utter mess in the machinery.
"A Directorate is a part of the Secretariat in principle it's not a part in practice but in Jharkhand's context the powers, authority and work of the directorates have been hijacked by ministers and secretaries. Movement of files, transfer-postings and many other works that could have been done at the directorate level are directly handled by Ministers and Secretaries," said senior BJP leader and former MlA Saryu Roy.
"It is not important whether you shift the directorates to other cities and towns, improvement in work culture of the government is more important. The directorates are not at all at fault, it is rather the work culture of the government that is not letting the directorates work as independent executing authorities. A minister should not at all be involved in transfer-postings of Junior Engineers," said Roy mocking at the government for not holding cabinet meetings at Dumka frequently.
Requesting anonymity, a retired Chief Secretary of the State lambasted the government for the "impractical" proposal, which was purely political in his opinion.
"Before mooting such a proposal you should think at least once how serious are you to improve the governance in the State and what is the correct way of doing things. This is Jharkhand, a blind state, anyone can do anything here. Have you discussed the proposal with a panel of expertsIJ Have you had time to discuss the implications and practical issues involved in the processIJ You have not," said the former CS.