‘Officers involved in public outreach prog can’t leave district HQ without DM’s permission’

Kolkata: The state government has issued instructions that officers involved in ‘Jana Sanjog Karmasuchi’ (public outreach programme) will not be allowed to leave their respective district headquarters without the approval of the district magistrate (DM).

The special outreach programme began on Saturday and will continue till February 12. Sources said chief secretary B P Gopalika issued such instructions following the preparatory meeting by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on January 17 with all departmental heads. Banerjee had recently warned against “lackadaisical attitude” in discharge of duties by government officials and even threatened termination. “A section of government officials often refuse to work during weekends, which are usually holidays. The state government now wants its officers to work even on holidays during this outreach programme. There is provision for compensatory off and the state will allow the same when work pressure is less,” a Nabanna official said.

A district administration official said that during the earlier editions of Duare Sarkar programme similar instructions were issued for district level officers from Nabanna.

The ‘Jana Sanjog Karmasuchi’ that is being held at the polling station level is meant for ones who couldn’t register themselves for state government schemes at the Duare Sarkar camps or have not received the benefits of these schemes yet The public outreach programme camps are dealing with service delivery for 20 schemes, including Lakshmir Bhandar, Krishak Bandhu, among others.