Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed bureaucrats in the State to be humble towards citizens and transparent in their spending.
Mr. Thackeray on Friday held his first review meeting with senior government secretaries and bureaucrats and directed them to be accountable for every penny that was spent on development work.
He said, “This should work like a government of the people, for the people.” Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister’s Office Bhushan Gagarani and secretaries of various departments were present at the meeting.
Mr. Thackeray said his priorities would be the development of Mumbai and the welfare of farmers in the rural hinterland.
“The funds for development work are made available from the tax paid by people. It is necessary to give an impetus to development through optimum utilisation of the funds allocated. We can earn the faith of the public by working with an attitude of service. It is our responsibility to make sure the people have an allegiance to the government. People have entrusted this responsibility of the Chief Minister to me with great faith.”
Later, addressing journalists, Mr. Thackeray said the government would look towards increasing taxpayers’ income and making funds available for development work. He said priority should be given to development work to bring “better days in the life of farmers and workers”.
Mr. Thackeray said, “The officers should concentrate on providing transparent and clean administration as this is necessary to earn the respect of people and make sure they have an attachment to the government.”
Mr. Thackeray said senior officers have to play an important role in ensuring that the government achieves these targets.
‘Suspicious files’
Senior secretaries said Mr. Thackeray instructed them not to escalate ‘suspicious’ files to the CMO.
A senior secretary said, “Mr. Thackeray told us to bring any file that raises suspicion of officers to him. He also encouraged us to make notes on files, instilling faith in decision making and accountability.”
