In a strong initiative to enforce administrative discipline and accountability, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Koderma made a surprise visit to the Jaynagar Zonal Office earlier this week. The visit also highlighted a major failure on the part of employees in terms of attendance and performance, and the district administration responded urgently.
Official sources said the surprise visit was a part of a bigger move by the DC to inspect on-ground governance and service delivery by government offices. Rural development schemes, land records and welfare services to the local population are very important activities of the Jaynagar Zonal Office, but we have found that it lacks basic administrative discipline.
The audit revealed that other employees were not in their posts without proper authorization or any justification. It was also indicated that records revealed a trend of attendance irregularities, whereby some of the staff did not sign the attendance register as others came in much later. There was a general feeling of not being serious about serving the people, indicated by the general environment she encountered at the office.
Immediate cognizance was taken by the DC, who suspended one government employee on the spot as a gross negligence and non-performance. Besides all this, salaries of 24 other workers were suspended pending future notice. Suspension and salary freeze came as a punitive measure that was meant to set precedence and cautioned government officials about the impact of indiscipline.
Addressing news persons, a top district official stated that in cases of public service, the administration can neither afford any lapse. People should get effective services in government offices with honesty. Any negligence impacts the ordinary man and makes the system credible. The official said this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.
The Deputy Commissioner has also put the Block Development Officer (BDO) and other zonal officers on guard that they should frequently check attendance and report after making it promptly. Tough rules are now being given throughout the district to strengthen on time and discipline and professionalism in government offices.
The surprise visit has resulted in a streak of panic among the other offices in the zonal or block level region. Employees at other offices are said to be reading their attendance records and beefing up internalities so that they are not exposed to the same fate. It is popular to think that such a move was needed because the culture of work had to be restored to normalcy and responsibility within the system of the state had to be instilled back.
This radical administrative move is being perceived as a good step towards having transparent governance. It emphasizes the initiative of the Koderma district administration to enhance efficiency of public offices thereby claiming that the citizens get the services which they are entitled to.
The citizens of Jaynagar and other regions have received the move of the DC with good hopes that this will make the functioning of government offices and the emphasis on service delivery a lot better. As more of these surprise checks are bound to further occur in the next few weeks, the government workers are now forced to stick to the right work ethics and be alert in their work.
