Siddaramaiah asks officials to pull up socks

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today asked the bureaucracy to immediately put the administration back on track to dispel the general perception that it had collapsed in the state.

"I want the bureaucracy to pull up their socks and put in place the administration. The general perception is that it has collapsed in the previous BJP rule. I want officials to make a drastic change in the administration in the next six months or else, strict action will be taken against them," he warned top bureaucrats attending a high-level meeting here.

Siddaramaiah said he wanted a drastic change in the administration in the next six months.

He also took exception to several departments not submitting utilisation certificates to the Centre over utilisation of funds allotted through central schemes.

"Without utilisation certificates we cannot get additional central grants," he said.

He said government is committed to correct utilisation of central funds in MGNREGA scheme as the state had got a bad name due to large-scale irregularities in its utilisation under the scheme during the BJP rule.