Punjab’s new Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was seen in full action mode on the first day of assuming charge of the office.
Right from assuring the complete presence of Ministers, officers, and employees in their office; to pruning his security paraphernalia, Channi was seen taking tough decisions considering that he has a few months to perform, but herculean tasks to complete.
Channi was chairing the first Cabinet meeting as the Chief Minister, during which significant decisions were taken , in line with the party’s five crucial issues, which were part of high command’s 18-point programme.
As per the fresh orders passed on his instructions, all the officers and employees have been asked to reach office by 9 am and remain present during the entire office timings. The orders would be implemented in all the government offices — be it in state headquarter, district level, tehsil or block level.
For the same, all the administrative secretaries and heads of the departments have been asked to conduct timely checks on the employees, and also on the records and their working.
“We have just 90 days with us, and we have to deliver within this. A lot of talks have been done and now is the time to act...People doesn’t want any further talks, and in fact, doesn’t believe in it,” said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
Randhawa said that as per few decisions taken during a preliminary meeting in the evening, it was decided that all the Ministers, officials, officers and employees would be asked to work from the Secretariat. “Employees will be asked to attend office from 9 am to 5 pm...Ministers must also remain present in office,” he said. “One more thing that we have decided that there would be zero tolerance towards corruption,” said Randhawa.
He also informed that the Chief Minister was in favour of pruning his security, and the decision on the same would be taken soon. “The Chief Minister has expressed that he want a cut on his security detail as he wanted to be more accessible to the people,” he added.
REACH OFFICE BY 9 AM; SOLVE PEOPLE’S GRIEVANCES
To bring discipline in the government offices, Chief Minister Channi has directed all the government officers or employees at state, district, tehsil and block level to reach at their concerned offices by 9 am and remain available for the public till the office hours in the evening.
The Chief Minister, while stressing on the need of bringing transparency in the government offices also directed all the officers or employees deal with all the grievances of people on priority basis.
“To ensure the availability of all the government officers or employees in the offices during official hours, Administrative Secretaries or Department Heads to conduct surprise checks twice a week to keep vigil on the employees working under them,” said Channi.
Meanwhile, the CM also asked Administrative Secretaries or Department Heads to keep a close watch on the activities or records at their concerned offices.
15% SALARY HIKE OF EMPLOYEES
Hours after Channi took oath as the CM, Punjab Government issued notification of 15 percent hike in the salaries of employees. As per the notification issued by the Finance Department, the increase will be based on basic pay-plus-113 percent DA (dearness allowance) from December 31, 2015. Notably, the State Cabinet had, the previous month, announced an increase in the basic pay of its employees by the minimum 15 percent hike and also to restore certain allowance.