ITANAGAR, 1 Jun: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday exhorted officers of the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service (APCS) to shed off the ‘babu’ image of civil servants and become ‘agents of change.’
Speaking at the conference of the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service Officers Association (APCSOA) state Banquet Hall here, Khandu said, “In order to bring transformation in our state, the fundamental requirement is to change our mindset and think like ‘leaders’ and not as ‘managers.’
“We have heard about vision and passion. Let us put this into practice,” he said.
Terming the state civil servants as an elite class of the Arunachali society, Khandu said they were in service of their own choice therefore, they must gracefully accept the challenges of serving in remote and far-off places of the state.
“Challenges and development are never-ending processes. You resolve a challenge, a new one will crop in. You must take this in your stride and never give up before challenges,” he said.
Khandu said that Arunachal being a mixture of different tribes is, at times, difficult to manage administratively. “But the civil servants must go beyond the call of their official duties to implement government schemes and programs,” he added.
“Wherever you are posted, it must be your sincere endeavor to develop a sense of pan-Arunachal feeling amongst those you deal with. Once a pan-Arunachal sense is imbibed in every citizen of the state, there will be no looking back,” he assured.
In order to equip themselves with technical know-how and administrative skills, Khandu urged the civil servants to avail all capacity-building programs devised by the state government from time to time.
“Recently, APCS officers of the 2020 batch were trained in Mussoorie- based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). They were then trained in Arun Jaitley Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad, IIM Shillong and the North East Judicial Officers Training Institute, Guwahati. Such capacity building programmes are necessary at all levels and cadres,” he said.
Khandu also informed about the Satellite Centre of IIM Shillong established at Tawang and the recent training programme held there for all deputy commissioners.
“We are only policy makers. After making the policies we hand them over to the bureaucracy for execution. The role and importance of civil servants is, therefore, paramount,” he opined.
The chief minister appreciated the role played by civil servants during the time of Covid-19 pandemic, both during lockdowns and vaccination drives. He acknowledged the sincerity and hard work put in by the APCS officers in taking administration to the grassroots level in far off remote corners of the state.
He however, minced no words talking about corrupt practices followed by civil servants particularly, of the state services.
“It is very disheartening to see some of our APCS officers indulge in corruption. Let me be very clear for the umpteenth time. I will not tolerate corruption in any form,” he reiterated.
Khandu insisted that during his tenure as chief minister no one indulging in corruption will be spared.
Responding to a few issues raised by the APCS officers association related to promotion, etc. Khandu expressed hope that with the new system of Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window for APCS officers in place, this would be resolved.
“The new system being implemented from this year would ensure proper and secure maintenance of Annual Performance Appraisal Reports permanently in digitized form and facilitate timely career advancement of APCS officers, speed up promotions and reduce stagnation,” he said.
With regard to other issues, Khandu asked the departments of general administration, district administration and personnel to study the same and recommend to the state government for redressal. He assured that all grievances would be sympathetically addressed by the government.
First session of the one-day conference had deliberations on ‘Bringing dynamism in civil service: with special reference to Arunachal Pradesh’ by former chief secretary of the state Ramesh Negi, ‘Vision@2047: Strategies for Arunachal Pradesh’ by chief secretary (in-charge) Dr. Sharat Chauhan, ‘Challenges of civil services and its role in public administration’ by commissioner Kaling Tayeng, ‘APCS: Being future-ready’ by Dahey Sangno (APCS) and ‘Administrative Growth in Arunachal Pradesh’ by Jalash Pertin (APCS).
Speaking on the occasion former chief secretary of state Ramesh Negi said bureaucrats should protect rule of law and follow the constitution while performing duties.
“Bureaucrats should not discriminate and should treat every citizen equally irrespective of tribe, religion, or region,” he said.
Home minister Bamang Felix said the state government was committed to providing top-quality training to the young civil service officers. “Training the young officers is like making future investments. The civil servants are the foundation of the state and nation,” said Felix.
Earlier, the outgoing APCSOA president Abu Tayeng highlighted the efforts of the 2016 batch APCS officers who have funded seven projects across the state from their own sources. “These young officers take up projects on a need basis by crowd fund and also implement them. Till now 7 projects have been taken and they intend to take up 30 more. They operate under the name of project 37. Their effort is appreciated and will definitely inspire others,” said Abu Tayeng.
On the occasion, CM felicitated the 2016 batch for their project 37 initiative, and a short video showing their initiative was also screened. (CM’s PR Cell with input from ATNS)
