Andhra Pradesh: CS Aditya Nath Das pulls up truant subordinates

Amaravati: Following a recent remark by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that "bureaucrats seem to be becoming lazy", Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das on Friday pulled up many senior subordinates for skipping the Secretariat, the main seat of administration, altogether.

This issue topped the agenda at the meeting the Chief Secretary held with Special Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of various departments, top official sources said. It has been observed that less than 10 IAS and IPS officers heading various departments in the Secretariat have been coming to work punctually while the majority of the others have been operating "remotely" ever since the corona virus outbreak in March last year.

Recently, it was brought to the Chief Minister's notice that only a handful of bureaucrats were visiting the Secretariat regularly and the others were operating from the heads of departments offices either in Vijayawada, Tadepalli or Mangalagiri. Some officers were regularly seen at the Chief Minister's Camp Office in Tadepalli only. "The Chief Minister immediately took up the issue with the Chief Secretary and expressed serious displeasure over the situation.

The Chief Minister reportedly said E-Office and E-Files are okay but personal interaction between IAS officers and mid-level officers in the Secretariat is also vital. This issue dominated the agenda at Friday's meeting, the Chief Secretary held with the heads of Secretariat departments. The Chief Secretary wanted to know why IAS officers were staying away from the Secretariat.

Attendance of Secretariat officers and staff was not being monitored as the Secretaries themselves were abstaining, Aditya Nath remarked. He directed the secretaries to necessarily come to the Secretariat and set things in order. "The Chief Minister will also henceforth be coming to the Secretariat regularly. So, you can't be found missing," the Chief Secretary warned the bureaucrats.