In a strong advice to officers and elected office-bearers of urban local bodies (ULBs), Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday underlined that human life has to be given top priority. He made the comments while referring to the Rajkot game zone fire tragedy last month, which killed children among 27. “Our foremost priority should be the life of a human being. There cannot be any compromise in it whether it is at the level of officers or (elected) office bearers,” he stressed. The Chief Minister further added, “When we chase development, it may happen that it does not have any use if we do not take care of those for whom it is being done.” He made the remarks while addressing an official event of the Urban Development Department at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar to distribute cheques worth Rs 2,111 crore to various municipal corporations and municipalities in the state for developmental work. Top officials and elected office bearers of the ULBs were also present on the occasion. Referring to the TRP game zone fire tragedy, the Chief Minister said, “We think that despite doing so much development, we commit some mistake. Why does it (such mistakes) happen?” The state government on Wednesday published the draft rules for regulation of game zones and amusement parks in the state while inviting public suggestions and objections to it. Referring to the draft rules, the Chief Minister said, “We have framed the SOPs (standard operating procedures) for the game zones. We have put it on public domain as well. Let us ask the public if they want anything to be added to it, then we can add it. So that, no such mishap is repeated. All of us should be careful about that.” Chief Secretary Raj Kumar and Principal Secretary Ashwani Kumar among others were in attendance at Thursday’s event. Emphasising on the need to maintain quality in developmental work, the Chief Minister also recommended to the ULBs to monitor and discuss the quality of implementation of development work for at least two days in a year. On media criticism, the Chief Minister said, “They are not criticising us. By showing our small mistakes, they keep us awake that these things are required to be done,” he said. In this regard, he referred to a media report showing a government office with tobacco stains. “They (media) show it because we are doing it.” The Chief Minister, in this context, also said that he has suggested that during office hours, officers, office bearers and even the public should be restricted from consuming tobacco.
