Tamil Nadu: Tough road ahead for Girija Vaidyanathan

Chennai: With the post of chief secretary coming under scanner for second time in less than six months, Girija Vaidyanathan faces an arduous task of restoring credibility to the top post as well steering the state. Apart from cash crunch and revenue loss to the state, due to demonitisation, the state is also heading towards water shortage thanks to monsoon failure.

According to informed sources, several talented IAS officers now serving with the Centre are unwilling to come back to the parent cadre. So, the chief secretary will have to rely with available best talents in the state to fill the vacant posts. As on date more than 10 top posts designated for senior IAS officers are lying vacant in the state. Further, a dozen IAS officers, who have been sidelined in the recent months or transferred out from the power corridors of secretariat,  have been sulking for some time.

Administrative file works, reviews and board meetings of various government departments had been affected in the last two months due to factors like Vardah and the demise of former CM Jayalalithaa. The posts of department secretaries like energy, agriculture, tourism, social welfare reforms and special project implementations are either vacant or held by another secretary or an officer whose hands are full with their routine work, sources said.

“Rama Mohana Rao was very quick in taking decisions and will not sit on departmental files. We want an upright chief secretary who is fast with the administration work,” said a senior IAS officer adding that a few no-nonsense officers like PWC Dawidar, P. Umanath and T. Uthayachandran were shunted out to insignificant posts. Also remember that exemplary officers like Swaran Singh and Mohan Varghese Chunkanth had an unceremonious retirement, as they were pushed to insignificant posts, the officer added.  

According to secretariat sources former chief secretary Rama Mohana Rao had fixed a series of departmental review meetings on Wednesday and Thursday and he was also to interact with the Central team visiting cyclone-hit areas in Chennai on Friday. The new chief secretary who is likely to take charge on Friday is scheduled to interact with the Central team  visiting Chennai on the same day.