Saturdays and Sundays are no more an ‘off’ for IAS officers

Thiruvananthapuram: With the installation of Narendra Modi Government at the Centre, the dividing line between weekdays and weekends has vanished for most bureaucrats. Bureaucrats from state who used to dash back home after meetings during the weekdays, now have to stay put even on Saturdays and Sundays to discuss policy matters and projects.

With the secretaries, joint secretaries and even minsters sacrificing their weekends, IAS officers from state have no other option but to stay back and participate in ‘holiday’ deliberations. On an average about 30 to 40 IAS officers from the state visit Delhi every month to attend meetings convened by various ministries, workshops, presentations on projects and inter departmental conferences.

Many say the change is Centre's style of functioning is very much visible. “Secretaries who had made a habit to come alone for important meetings, have now been asked to bring along joint secretaries compulsorily. Minsters who used to sit back and listen to the presentations made by secretaries of their respective departments, now often have to do the job themselves,” said a senior IAS officer.

With the file movement and monitoring mechanism having become speedier, there is swiftness in administrative activities. “Earlier the standard answer of Delhi based babus used to be ‘aane do dekhenge’ (let the file come, we will see). But now many of them cannot take the liberty of keeping the files on the table, hence have to clear in record time. Projects reports are being vetted in real time,’’ recollected another official.

On a lighter vein though, many officers here admit that their ‘achche din’ are soon becoming a thing of the past.