CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Water Supply and Sanitation department to prepare a comprehensive ‘Master Plan’ to ensure smooth implementation of state’s cent percent water supply schemes across the state. Mr. Badal was presiding over a high level meeting of the senior officers here at his residence late last evening to review the functioning and progress of the department.
Pointing towards the bottlenecks in departmental functioning, the Chief Minister approved the rationalization plan of the department and asked the Principal Secretary, Water Supply and Sanitation to draft a transfer policy to be implemented at the earliest for smooth functioning of the department. Expressing concern over the indiscipline and lethargic attitude of employees, Mr. Badal warned that non-performing officers would be compulsorily retired.
• Asks department to prepare a master plan and undertake rationalization
• Non-performing officers to be given marching orders
He categorically asked the Principal Secretary to regularly monitor the performance of senior officers and in turn they should also review the performance of their subordinates. Any officer or official found to be delinquent or showing laxity would not be allowed to continue in service and would be given marching orders. He said the people’s service should be our sole motive and we should make all concerted efforts to deliver the goods effectively for their betterment.
The Chief Minister directed all the Superintendent Engineers (SEs), Executive Engineers (XENs) of the department to prepare their tour schedules and ensure regular interactions with the village Panchayats besides inspecting the ongoing water works schemes and projects in tandem with the respective Panchayats. Referring to the issue of staff shortage in the department, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation apprised the Chief Minister that as many as newly recruited 120 Junior Engineers, 30 Draftsmen and 30 SDOs would soon join the department as the process of their selection had already been completed.
The Chief Minister also directed the SEs to prepare the constituency wise lists of the villages in their respective circles, where the people were not coming forth to contribute their due share for the maintenance the Water Supply Scheme. He said that after complete survey, a strategy to motivate and mobilize the people would be chalked out with an active involvement of political leaders of particular areas. In order to lessen the stress of litigation work on the departmental officers, Mr. Badal asked the Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation to evolve a mechanism to appoint OSDs (Legal) having fair knowledge of department’s functioning on contract basis for quick disposal of cases in the courts besides giving legal opinion on the day to day matters, thereby saving lot of time and energy of the officers.