Governance has been pushed aside in Maharashtra, for let the government survive first. The secretariat is on an unscheduled holiday as CM Vilasrao Deshmukh joins his MLAs and strategists in Bangalore.The public dealings section set up for visitors is empty. The secretariat’s corridors, particularly the sixth floor with offices of the Chief Minister Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, are deserted.Chief Secretary V. Ranganathan claimed the administration is working without any hitches. ‘‘There is no problem. Official meetings at the administrative level are being held as per schedule. Even the weekly cabinet was held. Only some of the meetings which required the presence of cabinet members were postponed,’’ he said.But bureaucrats admitted that in the absence of the decision-makers even routine files were gathering dust. Since the official meetings have been postponed, there was no question of taking policy decisions.Forget the ministers, both Deshmukh and Bhujbal’s offices have been doing next to nothing. As per the official records, both since June 3 have not attended any official meeting, except the weekly cabinet meeting. ‘‘See their official engagements for the entire week. It shows as reserved. It means both Deshmukh and Bhujbal had no official work,’’ a senior official in the rank of Principal Secretary said.Worst-affected are the cases pending before the Ministers of Home, Cooperation, Revenue and Food and Civil Supplies. ‘‘Since the ministers are not in office, the cases have been adjourned.’’ At least 40 appeals pending before Home department headed by Bhujbal have been postponed.
