Notable first decisions of new government
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 24, 2022 -

AFTER days of uncertainty over who should head the BJP-led coalition government, the party's central leaderships have managed to settle the issue and avoid any serious internal dissent as of now.

Notwithstanding the rebuttals and explanations from the party's state office that there were no tussles over the post of chief minister, the central leaders summoning the contenders and holding parleys with them despite clear mandate received by the BJP clearly indicated lack of consensus among the legislative party members.

For now the dust seems to have settled as some members of the council of ministers have been appointed and second time chief minister N Biren wasted no time in convening the first cabinet meeting to chalk up policies for sustaining the comparatively commendable performance in the first stint.

The first cabinet meeting of the N Biren-led government's second term in office held on Tuesday has definitely laid out the road map to take Manipur on the right track.

Unlike in the first innings when the coalition government set sight on completion and inauguration of projects left pending by the then Congress government, the first cabinet meeting approved '100 tasks in 100 days' programme, change in school timings to ease traffic congestion, strengthen existing mechanism to make Manipur corruption free, etc., all of which aim to streamline the administration and achieve the targets missed in the first term.

By giving emphasis on tackling graft cases, the new government has technically accepted that fighting corruption cases remains a challenging task but wouldn't leave anything to chance.

Preceded by unwanted incidents and tense situations, in the run up to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly election as well as after the results were declared the top rung cabinet ministers resolving to shorten the number of working days for government employees and to use drones for surveying poppy plantations are two eye-catching decisions among others.

If both the resolutions were implemented and enforced in the right earnest, then the sluggish work etiquette of staff members manning various departments could be done away with effectively.

Similarly, zeroing in on the poppy plantation areas and efficient utilisation of the law enforcement agencies would help the new government take giant strides towards eradicating the scourge of illicit drug trades and abuse of psychotropic substances.

Though there are varied issues impeding socio-economic advancement of the state, encouraging the employees to attend office on time and discharge their respective assignments within the five-day period would at-least ensure that the administrative sloppiness are kept at the minimum for pending file process has been one of the chronic problems afflicting the system of governance.

It's no secret that barring the state secretariat almost all the government offices remain vacant till around noon and with the same scene re-enacted after 2 pm, not to mention of the usual breaks in between.

Thus, it remains to be seen how diligently the administrative heads execute the cabinet decision and the government enforces the resolutions adopted to cleanse all ill afflicting the system so as to enhance profile of the state.