By IANS,
Guwahati : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has put an embargo on bureaucrats making frequent trips to New Delhi in the name of pushing files and getting central projects approved.
An Assam government spokesman Thursday said the chief minister was perturbed after getting fat tour bills from bureaucrats visiting New Delhi on official work.
“Instead of frequently visiting New Delhi, the chief minister has instructed the officials to visit the districts and help in expediting development works in the state,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam health minister and government spokesman, told IANS.
The minister, however, did not elaborate on how much money was spent from the state exchequer towards tour bills by bureaucrats in the last year.
The chief minister’s curb on visits to New Delhi comes at a time when his government completes two years in office later this month. This is the second consecutive term for the Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam.
“The state government’s topmost priority now is to ensure that development projects are completed on time, solving the insurgency issue, completion of the border fencing work along Bangladesh and updating the National Register of Citizens,” the minister said.
The state government is said to be working towards a blueprint for the next three years.
The minister said the blueprint would focus on key areas like implementation of the Assam Accord, comprehensive flood control measures and time bound development projects, besides generating employment avenues for locals.
“The approach of the government in the next three years is to see that Assam prospers and grows at a fast pace,” Sarma said.
“Even the ministers were asked by the chief minister to visit their constituencies more frequently to personally monitor projects and development works.”
He said the government wants to change the work culture in the state by emphasising timely completion of various schemes undertaken during the last two years.
“We should not remain complacent by taking pride in the start of a project, rather one should feel happy when such schemes are completed. This is what the chief minister expects,” Sarma said.