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Journalism of Courage
The performance assessment of all the 48 departments of the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra has flagged poor performance of at least eight key departments in achieving their targets in the 100 days set by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
This first-of-its-kind exercise, ordered by CM Fadnavis, was carried out by the Quality Control of India.
Three of the eight departments which fared poorly include General Administration, Urban Development, and Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, which are held by Fadnavis and Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar respectively.
The performance outcome of each department was measured through the targets assigned to them. While the General Administration department only met 24% of its targets, the Urban Development and Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs departments met 34% and 33% of their targets respectively.
Government sources said the CM will hold follow up meetings with departments that have performed poorly.
Of the 48 departments, 12 departments have secured a perfect 100% target on the performance index. These top-performing departments include Water Resources, Home, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, Ports, Higher and Technical Education, Labour, Textiles, Cultural Affairs, Mining, Dairy Development, and the Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Eighteen departments have been rated above 80%. These are Energy, Industry, Revenue, Transport, School education, Food and Drugs Administration, Aviation, Skill development, Woman and Child Development, Agriculture, Fisheries, Urban Development (2), Medical Education, Information and Technology, Cooperation, Excise, and Public Health.
Marathi Bhasha, Public Works, Supply and Sanitation, Tourism, Housing, Social Justice, Water and Soil Conservation, Sports and Youth Welfare, Tribal Welfare and Environment are the ten departments whose scores stand between 60% and 80%.
The low-performing eight departments also include Information and Communication (55%), Forest (44%),OBC welfare (44%), Marketing (43%), and Divyang Kalyan (36%).
The overall score of all 48 departments averaged 78%.
Shortly after taking charge as the BJP-led Mahayuti government’s CM on December 5, Fadnavis announced “transparent and accountable administration” with a focus on “development”.
Fadnavis had set an ambitious target for each department, giving them 100 days to complete programmes. The objective of this exercise is to make the administrative machinery more active and “citizen-centric”, according to the government.
On May 1, Fadnavis took to X to disclose the department-wise performance statistics.
State BJP president and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the “initiative is a bold step to bring greater accountability in the administration”.
“The purpose is not to pick faults with any department but to review the progress. And where there are hurdles, it helps to identify them and address them effectively,” Bawankule said.
A Shiv Sena minister said that “the departments performing above 60% should be termed as good”. He said, “In the departments where performance falls below 60%, we have to clinically analyse as to why it failed. It is amusing to see that three departments held by Fadnavis, Shinde and Pawar have scored below 60%. Now, all these three leaders are efficient. This needs to be reviewed.”
State Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal questioned the performance audit.
“These numbers do not reflect the true picture. While the concept is good, the index raises doubts. If 12 departments have got a 100%, and 18 achieved above 80%, why does it not show on the ground?” Sapkal asked.
“The citizen-centric administration Fadnavis talks of remains a distant dream. This can be ascertained from the long queue outside Mantralaya, with individuals from distant villages coming with complaints,” he said.
