Sounding tough on the grievances coming from some of the MPs about officials paying no heed to their communications, Chief Minister Raghubar Das has cautioned the executive setup in the Government against the practice. The CM’s response came to a complaint from Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Poddar in particular during the 20-point programme implementation committee meet called on Monday.
Poddar had raised the issue in the meeting and said that many letters from the representatives like him remain unanswered at department levels. “People are the real masters in a democracy and they have elected their representatives to put up their concerns. Officials must ensure that the letters written by MPs or MlAs are answered properly. You should not misguide the people. There should be no hesitation in responding to the communications,” said the CM, adding that the attitude often allows middlemen to take control of the situation.
During the meeting, the Rajya Sabha MP had complained about lack of response coming from the administration and officials on the issues relating to larger public interest. “I raised this issue since many of the letters written by me and the others got no response from the departments. This puts a question mark over the system. The CM took note of it and assured that the practice would not be allowed in future,” Poddar told The Pioneer.
In another important instruction, the CM directed officials of Food and Civil Supplies Department to report him daily about the paddy purchased at the centres operational in different parts of the State. The issue of their getting non-functional was raised as the members alleged that the produce of the farmers is not being purchased there and they are falling prey to middlemen. “Officials claimed that farmers are not turning up to sell paddy while some MPs claimed otherwise. The CM directed the Department to send him a daily report about the paddy procured,” added Poddar.
Issues relating to missing digital land records in Ranchi also came for discussion since the MPs expressed concern over no one authenticating the existing data which has claimed to be recovered after getting deleted. Also, complains about faulty data entry being made at the camps organised at district level were made before the CM. The members, on the occasion, discussed about minimum wages to labourers, rural electrification under DDU scheme, revision of old-age pensioners list and pollution in the Damodar river.
Stressing on greater degree of implementation, the CM called all the political parties together on the issue of development of the State. “Issues are there and these can be solved gradually. Political parties should come together in this fight. Work culture should be changed for the people standing last in the queue, be it Ministers or civil servants. I also see an important role of civil society into all this,” he said and added that the meeting would take place twice in a year. Notably, all the MPs and MlAs besides top officials in the Government are the members of the committee, only four and that also from the BJP, attended the meeting. Barring the CM and five Ministers—Neelkant Singh Munda, Ramchandra Chandravansi, Saryu Roy, CP Singh and louis Marandi, no other MlA was present there. Besides Poddar, VD Ram and Ramtahal Chaudhary were attended the meeting.
When contacted, BJP legislator from Gumla Shiv Shankar Oraon denied having any prior information about the meeting. The issue was raised there as well and the Planning and Finance Department was told to send information to the members well in advance in future.
The CM also backed the recent amendments made in the CNT-SPT acts, stating that situation has changed over the years and laws are being simplified depending on the need of the hour. He also stressed on opening bank accounts of labourers and for defining roles of labour inspectors in this endeavour.
Deputy chairman of the committee Rakesh Prasad, Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, Additional Chief Secretary Amit Khare and other senior officials of various departments were present there.