Koda responds to Congress sack notice

The Jharkhand government has gone in for a major reshuffle of its bureaucracy and adopted some other measures in response to the Congress party's 60-day ultimatum relating to the state's development and progress on new projects in the infrastructure sector.

The 60-day ultimatum to UPA-supported coalition government in Jharkhand led by the independent MLA Madhu Koda was delivered by the Jharkhand arm of the Congress party on the seventh Statehood Day on November 15.

Sources here said Koda was working to totally revamp the work processes within the government since then.

The Congress served the ultimatum, saying 'perform or perish' and gave the Koda government 60 days to respond.

The chief minister reshuffled 15 secretary-rank IAS officers soon after receiving the ultimatum from the Congress in Jharkhand.

He also announced several decisions to prove that he could move ahead on critical projects.

Koda had held a marathon meeting which continued for over seven hours with several departmental secretaries and engineers on November 21 regarding infrastructure projects.

At the review meeting, the chief minister laid special emphasis on early repair of all important roads in Jharkhand and providing uninterrupted power supply to all the major towns and district headquarters.

After the review meeting, Koda told reporters that he had set deadlines for completion of different schemes and projects.

The officials involved in the schemes and projects had been warned that stern action would be taken against them if the deadlines were not honoured.

The chief minister said that he had asked the drinking water department officials to ensure the sinking of at least two hand-pumps in each Gram Panchyat by January 31.

If they failed, they would be liable for punishment.

Similarly, the road construction department officials had been asked to start repair works and do patch repairs and filling of potholes immediately.

The department had also been asked to speed up work on all new projects.

Koda said by December this year, when the ultimatum issued by the Congress would expire, there would be substantial and positive improvement in the condition of all important roads.

The Congress party in Jharkhand skipped the state-sponsored Statehood Day celenrations on November 15 and submitted a detailed report to the chief minister justifying that the party's unhappiness at lack of governance had led it to boycott the Statehood Day function.

The state Congress said that it would assess the improvement in the next 60 days and take decisions thereafter.

The Congress had a long list of complaints.

The major findings of the Congress included the allegation that the per capita income in the state was about Rs 12,560 against the national average of Rs 25,000.

Rural poverty index of Jharkhand was the highest among the 28 states at 49 per cent.

Nearly 40-50 per cent schools in the state functioned with only one teacher.

Nearly 80 per cent people in Jharkhand relied on ponds and hand-pumps for drinking water.

Only 4 per cent of people had access to pucca drains.

Only seven per cent rural household had proper sanitation against national average of 21 per cent.

The health department of the state could spend only 68 per cent of the allocated budget.

Jharkhand could utilize only 19 per cent of the budgetary allocation under the Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana (SGRY) of which only 66 per cent was distributed to beneficiaries,

NREGS was non-functional in 20 out of the 24 districts till last year.

The public distribution system had become non-functional. Only 23 per cent of the population had access to electricity and rural electrification projects had reached only 11 per cent of the population in comparison to 48 per cent of the population nationally.

Rural communication was in equally bad shape in Jharkhand and the state was ranked 21st on the index of communication.

Most villages did not have all-weather roads.

Corruption was very high in the Jharkhand state government structure and transfer posting against bribes and money had become an established practice. Six chief secretaries and five director-generals of police had been replaced in seven years.