Durgesh Upadhya
Editor – North Block South Block
In Uttar Pradesh Yogi government has recently completed 100 days. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath along with his cabinet colleagues held a press conference and briefed about his achievements. Though 100 days are a small period to change the life of 22 crore people and nobody should expect a miracle to happen every time but it can be said that state government is moving in a positive direction.
With Yogi Adityanath coming to power it was expected that law and order situation would improve dramatically, but, unfortunately, it has gone worse than what it was during the Akhilesh Yadav government. In view of all this, people have begun to wonder if choosing Yogi as CM was a wrong decision but in my opinion he is a good choice. He is working hard to change he situation in all the areas. He is one CM who wakes up early in the morning and works till late in the night. His approach is quite positive. He is trying to change his hard-line Hindu leader image and trying to create a balance. He is so active that his hectic schedule has become a cause for worry for the state bureaucracy as well as many ministers in his cabinet. It’s hard for those officers who are sitting on the top to keep pace with him,
Few days back I had asked an officer closely working with CM ,what is his experience working with Yogi and he had promptly answered, “he is really a hard taskmaster”.
This is an example of how he has worked. The CM is working hard and making an honest effort to make things better . It is true. But then a question arises: Why have things not got any better. Why despite repeated warnings state bureaucracy has not been changed?.
After assuming office , he did not immediately select his staff members. He took time. Perhaps he was looking for those officers who were not involved in any nefarious activities. He adopted a wait and watch attitude. Largely because of this he did not change any officer soon enough which had become a debatable point in corridors of power. The question being asked was why is he giving so much time to those officers who were loyal to the previous government.
Initially it was speculated in Lucknow that a Senior IAS officer will be offered a particular position in the state capital but later on he was posted at some other place. There was a 20- day gap in between. People began asking in view of this whether he has been given a free hand or not to choose offices of his choice. Was there any interference by the Centre? He gave a befitting reply to all theses questions by choosing, though belatedly, honest and competent officers for his secretariat. All of them are doing well.
One more thing I would say here that those officers who have been put on waiting list are also very competent and it would not be a fair decision to make them sit at home. If there are charges they should be investigated and punished if proven guilty otherwise they should be posted according to their experiences.
There is a discussion on his not having any past experience of handling administration but I consider him a very sharp administrator. He is quick in his all decisions and actions but the problem is with those officers who are at the delivery level. If they will not perform, there will be no change on the ground level, be it law and order or any other field.
In my opinion CM should gear up state bureaucracy with caution. Simple mantra should be: perform or perish. Performance of each officer should be monitored. Apart from this, CM should find out officers with excellent track records and post them on important positions also remove those who are creating hindrances and affecting the image of this government , be it at senior or junior level.
People of Uttar Pradesh has lots of expectations from Yogi Adityanath and if he makes a right choice and post bureaucrats at right places, he will certainly achieve his goals.
