Arunachal CM calls upon the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of serving citizens
He acknowledged the contribution of former officers in evolution of Arunachal Pradesh to its present form.
ITANAGAR- Chief Minister Pema Khandu, attending the Civil Service Day celebration here this morning, called upon the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of serving citizens and renew their commitments to public service and excellence in work.
Addressing a conglomeration of civil servants including All India Service and State Civil Service officers at the DK Convention Center, he acknowledged the contribution of former officers in evolution of Arunachal Pradesh to its present form.
“It was only because of the sincerity, hard work and professionalism of the civil servants of that bygone era that Arunachal Pradesh could move forward matching steps with rest of the country. On this day, I on behalf of the people of the state, express gratitude and pay tributes to all those former civil servants and bureaucrats who served in Arunachal Pradesh and helped it grow,” he said.
Khandu said Arunachal Pradesh has been lucky to have excellent civil servants in the past and continue to have some of the best, sincere, hardworking and dedicated civil servants today.
“With your support, cooperation and sincerity, the state government today has brought in several reforms, which have started showing positive results,” he pointed.
As general tenure of all India service officers in the state is only two years, Khandu said lot depend on the state civil service officers in delivering governance to the people. He urged the state civil service officers, who are mostly indigenous to the state, to take ownership of the state and its development.
“Until and unless our local officers take ownership of the state, no chief minister or any government can take the state on the path of progress. We the political class are entirely dependent upon the system and you are the system,” he said.
He advised the civil servants, especially those heading departments, to travel to the districts and coordinate with the district administrations to push schemes and programs being implemented by their respective departments.
“Our focus should be to change the dynamics of rural economy through proper implementation of all state and central government flagship programs. If you don’t travel, you will not be able to ensure proper implementation of schemes,” he said.
Civil servants, he asserted, should motivate and inspire the youths of today. According to Khandu, civil servants are in the position they are now after overcoming various obstacles and competitions by virtue of which they can become role models for the youths.
“When the time comes, retire with pride. Leave behind your contributions to the society that you can be proud of. There will be no point complaining against the system after retirement when you did not much to change the system when you were in the system and had the power to do it, ” he said.
Khandu assured that the state government is committed to enhance the capacity of civil servants besides looking after their welfare.
“We have signed a MoU with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis-IIM Shillong for collaborating as a knowledge partner for capacity building of State Government officers and collaborated with LBSNAA Mussoorie to undertake training programmes for our civil service officers,” he informed.
The Chief Minister congratulated the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) headed by its Chairman Rajeev Verma and Secretary Santosh Kumar Rai on winning the prestigious ‘Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration-2022’ conferred every year on the occasion. He said that APSSB has not only restored the faith of people in recruitment process but also in the process of governance as a whole.
Terming constitution of APSSB as one of the best practices adopted by the state, Khandu advocated the need to learn from best practices of other states and even countries.
Citing one such practice – Estonia’s ‘once only’ principle – he explained, “ It implies that once a citizen has provided a piece of information, it is the government’s responsibility to share with other departments and re-use that information instead of different departments asking citizens to provide the same information again.”
Khandu claimed that the practice reportedly saves Estonia about two percent of GDP annually.
To commemorate the day, Khandu launched the Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window (SPARROW) that will facilitate electronic filing of Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) by state civil service officers from anywhere anytime as per convenience.
“Henceforth, there will be no issues of missing APARs currently affecting timely career advancement of APCS officers, speed up promotions and reduce stagnation,” he claimed.
Khandu, meanwhile, congratulated Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar and Principal Secretary Rajeev Verma on being posted as Chief Secretaries respectively of Delhi and Puducherry. Though Arunachal Pradesh will miss their services, he wished them to continue serving the country with the same enthusiasm. He also thanked all the IAS and IPS officers transferred out of the state for their support and contributions to the state.
