NEW DELHI, June 9: If there's one word missing from the babudom's dictionary, it should be discipline. But things are changing in the ministries in Delhi with some Union Ministers launching disciplinary drives. Attendance registers at North Block, the HRD ministry and the Railway headquarters, sources say, are now signed on time and they record more names than ever before. Home Minister L K Advani, for instance, reaches his North Block office at 9 am and on his way he would enter some section or the other to check the attendance. Advani also checks the timings of the file cleared by bureaucrats.If the section in-charge makes it in time for the minister's surprise call, he faces a barrage of questions from Advani. What does your section do? What are these files doing on your table? Why were they (files) not cleared in time?No wonder, attendance at the North Block is at an all-time high, and more important, the employees reach office at 9 am. Advani's presence in the office till late night also ensures thatthe employees do not leave their seats before 5.30 pm.Just at a stone's throw away, at the Rail Bhawan, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has launched a number of measures to tame the babus. On two consecutive days, May 25 and 26, he carried out sample surveys of attendance. On the first day, only 20 per cent of a sample of 139 employees were present in the office by 9.30 am, sources said.Next day, however, the attendance went up to 40 per centOfficials above the rank of section officers were spared in this exercise, as they normally have field jobs and can possiblly be out of office `on job'. Advani too is reported to have made it mandatory to check samples of attendance. HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Social Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi are also understood to have followed suit.
