Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi on Tuesday blamed the Government for not clearing pending files and said matters raised by her were not getting a proper response within a reasonable time frame.
“Since June last year, 43 files sent for report are pending with the Chief Secretary. Any report required by the Lt. Governor needs to be responded to within a time frame. Similar is the experience with files put up before the Chief Minister’s Office or Ministers’ Offices” Ms. Bedi told newspersons at the Raj Nivas.
“The Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and the Lt. Governor need to work together… it is togetherness not competition,” she said. She denied that any files were detained at the Raj Nivas inordinately.
“I don’t hold any file.. there is not file pending with the LG Office... Files are processed and if there is any difference of opinion between the Cabinet and the Lt. Governor, it is referred to the President..which is within the rules and doesn’t mean I am opposed ”she said.
Ms. Bedi also claimed that Vigilance complaints referred by the LG office went ignored.
“Whatever matter I have asked for a Vigilance inquiry no report has ever come during the past eleven months. There is either no Vigilance department or it is weak,” she said.
Ms. Bedi called for a new work culture in Puducherry. “Officers should start the day with field visits… whether it is CS, Director or whoever else at supervisory level, they should start the day with field work rather than engage with paper work.. it will show results and make a difference in the UT,” she said.
Ms. Bedi alleged that the Chief Secretary’s position had become highly politicised in Puducherry.
The incumbent who needed to act as a neutral figure and a bridge between the Lt. Governor and the political class had shifted to one camp and was failing in his role as a protector of rules, she alleged.