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UP CM Akhilesh Yadav fast tracks progress, implementation slow

The chief minister has been announcing new projects at a breakneck speed

Lucknow: With the BJP down his neck before the 2017 assembly elections, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has set his development agenda of the state on the fast track.

The chief minister, in the past few weeks, has been announcing new projects at a breakneck speed. From IT cities, to NRI investments to dairy plants, modern hospitals, expressways to education initiatives to police modernisation he has done it all.

The announcements may be hurtled out of chief minister’s office at a fast speed but the implementation is decidedly lagging behind. The MoUs signed during the investors’ meet in Agra and Delhi have yet to translate into reality and For instance, several months have passed since the state government announced that Amul would set up its plant in Lucknow.

The project is yet to start gaining ground but the government owned Parag dairy has already slipped into losses that are getting heavier by the day.

“Ever since the Amul project was announced, officials have stopped taking interest in Parag and the problems here remain unsolved.

We are aware that the advent of Amul will ‘kill’ Parag but the government is killing Parag even before Amul begins its operations here,” said a senior official in Parag.

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has apparently realised that mere announcements will not lead the party to another victory in 2017 and at a recent function, the Samajwadi patriarch said, “Since the past several months I am hearing about new announcements only.

There have been a plethora of new projects but I have not been told of any project nearing completion. Mere announcements will not benefit the government and now is the time for implementation”.

According to a senior official, the main problem lies with the middle-ranking officers in the bureaucracy who do not take adequate interest in implementation.

“Once the announcement is made, the chief minister moves on to the next project and the previous one gathers dust on the shelf. The officers have a laidback attitude and there is no mechanism for regular monitoring,” he said. Officers, meanwhile, blame the “work culture” for the delay.

“As an officer, I avoid taking decisions because I have no security of tenure. I have faced five transfers this year and I have never been given a reason for the action.

With this kind of work culture why would any sensible officer take a decision? That explains the stalemate that prevails at various stages,” he said.

Ministers like Shivpal Singh Yadav and Azam Khan, however, make sure their departments work without any such glitches.

“But these ministers also know how to defend the officers in their departments. Just compare the rate of transfers in their departments and you will see the difference.

Officers will work when they are confident that the minister will listen to them and also protect them,” the officer pointed out.

Samajwadi Party leaders, on other hand, are rightly worried that if the announcements do not translate into reality before the elections, the party may lose ground.

( Source : dc )
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