When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar paid a surprise visit to their offices on Tuesday, a number of senior ministers were missing from work.
The chief minister issued orders for all ministers and government employees to report to their respective offices by 9.30 am after expressing his displeasure with the level of attendance.
In the state capital’s Vikas Bhavan (New Secretariat) and Visvesvaraya Bhawan (Technical Secretariat), both buildings are located on Bailey Road.
When Kumar visited Vikas Bhavan, he found that some of the ministers were not in their offices.
Chandra Shekhar (education), Alok Kumar Mehta (sugarcane industries), Samir Kumar Mahaseth (industries), Sheela Kumari (transport), and Kumar Sarvjeet (agriculture) were among the ministers who were not present in their chambers. Officials claim that the CM complained about their absence.
At 9.30 am, the CM arrived at Vikas Bhawan. The CM looked over the ministers’ and senior officers’ offices, as well as those of the departments of Education, Health, Industry, Agriculture, Sugarcane Industries, Road Construction, Prohibition, Excise & Registration, and he asked about the presence of ministers, officers, and staff.
According to sources, when the CM went to the state Education minister’s office and saw that he was not there, he immediately called the latter and inquired as to why he had not arrived at the office by 9.30 am.
The chief minister then went to Visvesvaraya Bhawan, which is home to more than six departments, including the state planning board, the department of rural works, the department of road construction, the department of minor water resources, etc.
‘I require all officers to report to their assigned offices by 9.30 am. After touring the offices of numerous departments at Visvesvaraya Bhawan,’ Kumar told reporters, ‘Those who are found absent during my inspection are promptly asked the reason for their absence.’
The CM claimed that from 2008 to 2012–13, he routinely went to his office in the main secretariat at 9.30 am. I’ve now made the decision to regularly visit government offices, he stated.
The chief executive officer (CM) had earlier on September 20 inspected the main secretariat, which houses the offices of important departments like the Cabinet Secretariat, Home, General Administration, Finance, Planning, and Development as well as the offices of the chief secretary, the development commissioner, and other chief secretaries.
He had stated, ‘I will inspect the presence of officials and visit my offices at the main secretariat and the CM secretariat three days a week.’ Although the CM had complained about the absence of the officers and personnel during his visit to the main secretariat, he did not punish the absent employees.
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