Karnataka CM gives an earful to lax babus, ministers

Bengaluru: Having recently shaken up his Cabinet to make it poll ready,  Chief Minister Siddaramaiah turned his attention to the state bureaucracy on Tuesday, sharply berating a few officers for not doing their job and even reprimanding ministers for trying to defend them.

Mr Sidddaramaiah, who was in a belligerent mood, did not spare Social Welfare Minister, Anjaneya and Water Resources Minister, M B Patil, who tried to intervene when he took  officials of their respective departments to task.

While doing a review of the Social Welfare department, the Chief Minister pulled up the Kalaburagi social welfare officer and snapped at Mr Anjaneya when he tried to speak up for her, warning him against  defending anyone who failed to take the government’s programmes to the poor.

Senior officer, Rajaneesh Goel came in for some harsh words when he claimed anganawadis were not cramped as claimed. Pulling him up for relying on statistics provided by lower officers, Mr Siddaramaiah said he would have had a better understanding of the ground realities if he went into the field  instead of sitting in his airconditioned chamber.

Mr Patil found himself cut short when he intervened to say Vijayapura district did not have  such a problem with Mr Siddaramaiah telling him he had better ground information than the minister himself.

The CM instructed the deputy commissioners to start distributing forest rights to people living inside them, warning they could face stringent action if they did not.

“We have brought in a legislation and it is your duty to implement it. Don't give technical reasons to deny the people their rights. There are a lot of pending applications which must be reviewed,'' he said.

Asking the officials to be compassionate and consider the plight of the poor, he advised them to clarify any issues they may have with the Forest, Revenue and Social Welfare departments.