CM Devendra Fadnavis’s promises to be fast-tracked

The circular says, “From now on, if any promise or announcement of the chief minister is kept pending for implementation, it will be considered a violation of the government’s order.”
Chief Minister Fadnavis had earlier said that while higher echelons of bureaucracy have fallen in line, the lower-level bureaucrats are not as responsive and can be a stumbling block in decision-making.

Swadheen Kshatriya, chief secretary, said, “The chief minister makes a lot of assurances during the session, during his tours, public speeches, meetings with delegations, and it becomes a question of the government’s credibility to ensure that these are implemented on time.”

Every assurance the chief minister makes is sent to the secretary of the concerned department in a written format. Kshatriya said that until now, these written notes of the chief minister’s promises were mostly treated as proforma for the sake of collecting information.

“Now we have institutionalised the procedure. This will fix accountability on particular departments and officials. It will definitely ensure faster implementation of the chief minister’s announcements,” the chief secretary said.

He added that the government has not specified a time-frame in which the chief minister’s promises are to be implemented because action is expected immediately. “If there are any queries or clarifications holding up the implementation, the departments should get in touch with the chief minister’s office,” Kshatriya said

As per the circular, if any cabinet decision is necessary to meet the chief minister’s promises, the department should put up a proposal before the cabinet at the earliest. Like any other cabinet decision, the chief minister’s word should also be brought into action within 15 days of the cabinet decision, the circular says.