The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Thursday announced that it was looking to crowd-source administrative experts to make up for the shortfall in manpower, which it has accused the Centre of engineering across its rank and file.
The announcement came in the form of full-page newspaper ads with Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia condemning the Centre over the recent ‘undemocratic transfers’ of nine officers out of Delhi to “paralyze” the city’s administration.
“You have given us a massive mandate. If they do not provide us officers to work with, we will get experts from amongst you,” Mr. Sisodia said in the advertisement.
The move, according to a senior government official, seeks to expand the AAP government’s base of experts, which currently consists of around a dozen unpaid volunteers from different walks of life in the private sector. It would serve as an alternative to save government servants from “harassment and needless persecution at the hands of the Centre”, which has administrative say in their deployment.
Sources close to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is yet to break his silence on the recent arrest of his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, said he seemed to be in favour of keeping the post vacant “for the time being”.
However, when contacted, Nagendar Sharma, Chief Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, denied offering a comment.
According to the advertisement, there were 309 sanctioned posts of DANICS officers for Delhi, but the Central government has so far provided only 165 officers. Now, eight officers have been sent to Andaman, despite them not being required there.
“There are 24 posts in Andaman, of which 23 are filled up. Now, there will be more officers than required there. At present, Delhi has a mere 40 per cent of the sanctioned strength of officers,” the advertisement stated.
The Delhi BJP trained its guns on Mr. Sisodia. “The Delhi government has launched a publicity campaign, in which Kejriwal’s picture has been replaced by Manish Sisodia. This proves that Kejriwal understands that he does not command the trust of people,” said Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay.
