A day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ended his nine-day long dharna, the Delhi Secretariat buzzed with activity on Wednesday with Ministers holding various meetings that were attended by officers.
Mr. Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai had staged a sit-in at a visitors’ room in Raj Niwas starting June 11.
The four leaders had sought an end to what they said was an illegal strike by the bureaucracy in protest against the alleged attack on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by Aam Aadmi Party MLAs inside Mr. Kejriwal’s house on February 19.
With officers attending the meetings called by the Ministers on Tuesday, the AAP leaders ended their sit-in.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sisodia said the Ministers, including himself, had called several meetings and that officers, including IAS officers, had attended these.
Meetings of the Public Works Department, the Urban Development Department, the Home Department, the Environment and Forest Department, the Industries Department and the Power Department were among those attended by senior officers.
Meanwhile, silent protests by officers that have been carried out since the alleged attack on the Chief Secretary continued across Delhi government departments on Wednesday.
Safety assurance
Sources in the bureaucracy said they would proceed with the observance of a minute’s silence during lunchtime on every work day till the Chief Minister met them to discuss, and tide over alleged issues revolving around their safety.
Similar meetings
Government sources also insisted that the meetings being attended by them, since Tuesday, were similar to the ones being attended by them despite the observance of the silent protests over the last four months.
According to sources in the bureaucracy, the only form of communication between them and members of the elected government continues to remain written in nature and all meetings, except those which they were bound to attend as per the Transaction of Business Rules governing their conduct such as Cabinet meetings, are not being attended.
