Wake up, get to work: Bommai tells senior babus

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai admonished senior bureaucrats during an emergency review meeting on Tuesday by asking them to "wake up from your slumber" and make the administration more efficient.

Bommai chaired a meeting with all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries - they are heads of departments - to review implementation of promises made in the 2022-23 Budget and clearance of files.

"You must change your attidude towards development. Wake up from your slumber. Implement programmes without delays," Bommai is said to have told the bureaucrats.

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Speaking to reporters, Bommai said he spoke to them about implementing budget programmes, delays in projects and sorting out inter-departmental coordination issues. "I told them that pro-poor programmes mainly have to be implemented on time and they should reach the last person," he said.

Land requirement and tender processes for programmes that need them have to be done in the next 2-3 months, Bommai said. "There are programmes that provide financial assistance to farmers, SC/STs and OBCs with direct benefit transfer (DBT). This should start in June," he said.

"We also discussed administrative reforms. For example, no file should travel many levels upward," the CM said.

During the meeting, Bommai apparently took officials to task on utilising public money. "We give you money to implement schemes, not to keep it as bank deposits," he said, according to sources. "Stop being copycats. Change yourselves. Otherwise, the state will be in trouble. Make good use of funds and make sure they aren't misused," he added.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO), in a statement, said the heads of departments were asked to "swiftly complete" detailed project reports, land acquisition, estimation and tender processes for infrastructure projects. "Tender process for all the infrastructure projects should be completed before August," the CM said, according to the statement.

Bommai also directed officials to identify schools for the construction of 6,500 new classrooms before July.