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Bhubaneswar, March 24: A Prime Minister’s Office has proposed to hold a monthly video conference of state chief secretaries in connection with his innovative programme ‘Pragati’.
The meeting, commencing March 25 to take stock of implementation of various centrally-funded projects, will be held fourth Wednesday of every month.
Some leaders have welcomed the move as it will help monitor the progress of development projects in state, while others are of the opinion that it would be against the ethos of federalism.
Welcoming the move, BJP state unit president KV Singhdeo said, “It is a welcome decision. It will help the timely implementation of big development projects in state.”
“This will force the chief secretaries to review the projects with collectors and other concerned officers at regular intervals before coming to the meetings. This will give rise to accountability and clear bottlenecks off progress,” BJP spokesperson Suresh Pujari said. When asked to comment, BJD spokesperson Samir Dash said there is nothing wrong in it. Cooperation minister Damodar Rout said the PM has ignored the principle of federalism. “This is absolutely fine. Earlier, officers from PMO were holding similar meetings with chief secretary and other senior officials. Now the PM himself wants to do it. I see nothing wrong in it,” said Dash. Dash also appealed to all parties not to politicise the issue.
Rout said, “The PM is an elected representative like the chief ministers. PM has taken this decision neglecting and bypassing the elected CMs. So, it can’t be considered beneficial from the constitutional point of view. It will lead to conflicts in the administration system and ultimately progress will be affected.”
Opposing the move Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said it is a forcefully interference in the administration of the state government, which is unconstitutional.
