The All Arunachal Contractor’s Welfare Association on Thursday alleged that some officers and staffers of the state civil secretariat are unnecessarily keeping files on their tables for long periods. The association appealed to the chief minister to issue an instruction for speedy clearance of files at the secretariat. This is not the first time that red tape prevailing in the civil secretariat has been highlighted. In the past also, several organisations have raised concern over how the babus sitting in the secretariat create unnecessary hurdles in the clearing of files.
As files get stuck in the secretariat, it directly affects the developmental projects. The projects get slowed down due to delay in the release of fund. It also gives an excuse to the contractors to slow down work, citing lack of proper funding. No doubt the people sitting in the secretariat have every right to scrutinise the files sent by the departments. They are also answerable if all the required papers and documents are not proper. However, they should not hold the file for long without any reason. If there is a mistake, or if corrections are to be done, the file should be immediately sent back to the parent department. Sitting over a file for a long time is not going to help the state and will only curtail the development process in the long run.