Sadananda Gowda cracks the whip on slow babus

Chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda did some hard-talking to heads of various departments on Thursday as he expressed his displeasure at the lethargic attitude of many bureaucrats. Gowda, who reviewed the progress of several development works with chief secretary SV Ranganath and principal secretaries of all departments, sought progress reports about the work undertaken since the time he took over as chief minister.

He pulled up department chiefs who failed to comply with his directive for speedy clearance of files. Gowda had instructed that files should not be kept pending for more than 15 days. “Some departments have not cleared even 50% of the pending files,” he said.

Gowda took to district in-charge secretaries to task for ignoring his orders to tour their respective districts to ensure implementation of development works and to ensure that welfare programmes reached the beneficiaries. “Most secretaries have not visited their districts so far. This will not be tolerated,” he added.

Pointing to the recently passed bill for implementation of a Citizens’ Charter in various departments, the chief minister said those who fail to make the administration responsive and transparent would be punished.