By D.N. Singh
There is no need of any out of the box mechanism to identify the officers who deliver and those who do not. Like the one initiated by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to find out the police personnel suffering from ‘laxity’ , the same can be emulated here in Odisha as well.
Because, so far, the records show that the chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s image took majority of beatings for lack of due diligence by his officers, be it police or the team of tops who man and rule the Secretariat.
It’s all about accountability that must set the yardstick and during his earlier term the chief minister had advised and issued advisory for all the secretaries to blur the gap between people and officers by taking stock of the situations through personal visits to the areas concerned.
Although no statistical detail is available to know what was the outcome, but going by what reflects at the ground, the chief minister’s order and matching actions of officers were far and few between.
Yogi has issued strict advisory to let him know about the diligence of police officers and the ones with laxity and above 50 years may lose their job. Such an order can’t be seen in isolation and rather such vigil by the government may have duel impact. Whether people would welcome such an initiative and play as whistle-blowers or the officers may create an awkward situation in the days to come.
Similar fears can be the reasons for the chief minister here to soft-pedal on the issue or he may take a contortionist stance seeking accountability.
Because, the bottom realities reveal that there is somewhere an yawning gap between diligence and delay. Which must apply to top police officers as well who prefer to remain holed up in the headquarters.
On the other, it is time the political executives also be brought under the scanner of the chief minister. What has been seen so far that, actions of his political leaders or ministers have brought troubles for the party.
Even there are some loose cannons who try speaking out of their hats and create embarrassment for the chief minister. For example, fairly recently, a minister had the false audacity to claim himself as a ‘ God’ and describe the chief minister as ‘ lord Jagannath’. There cant’t be something more foolish than that.
Another senior BJD leader had, few years back, equated himself to a servant of the Biju ‘ parivar’ (family) and the intention behind such sycophancy is not difficult to fathom.
With a robust mandate from the people, Naveen Patnaik now enjoys the political legitimacy to size down his officers and political colleagues to ensure diligence.
