IAS officers attend AAP ministers'' meetings; discontent prevails

NEW DELHI:A day after a public patch-up of the AAP government and its bureaucracy, the ministers today convened a series of meetings of all the major departments that were attended by their respective IAS officers, but an air of discontent and uneasiness seemed to be prevailing among officers indicating “normalcy” in their ties with the Kejriwal government is still to return.

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

A day after a public patch-up of the AAP government and its bureaucracy, the ministers today convened a series of meetings of all the major departments that were attended by their respective IAS officers, but an air of discontent and uneasiness seemed to be prevailing among officers indicating “normalcy” in their ties with the Kejriwal government is still to return.

As it is a five minutes “silent protest”, whose pictures were shared by the IAS AGMUT association on Twitter, continued today by officers and the staff over the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by the AAP MLAs.

The officers are waiting for a meeting to discuss issues about their safety with the Chief Minister, who didn’t go to the Secretariat due to health issues today.

The joint forum of the Delhi Government Employees Association had yesterday furthered its talks with the AAP government asking Kejriwal to hold a meeting to discuss their grievances and concerns over the safety of staff and officers even as the government had requested LG Anil Baijal to convene a meeting of all stakeholders as "services and security" come under him, to which in turn Baijal responded with an advice to Kejriwal to urgently convene a meeting with the officers in the Secretariat to address the issues while the CM continued his sit-on at Raj Niwas yesterday.

“We are waiting for a meeting with the CM. There have been just assurances from him and nothing so far. Let’s see. Damages have happened and they need to be discussed thoroughly. Officers need a conducive atmosphere to work and have nothing against any minister,” senior IAS officers, who attended some crucial meetings with the ministers, told The Tribune.

But with Kejriwal likely to leave for Bengaluru tomorrow to join a 10-day naturopathy course to control his increased blood sugar level the matter may be delayed further even as the CM is expected to take some meetings, including a Cabinet, tomorrow at Secretariat.

Today Flood Control Minister Gopal Rai reviewed de-silting of drains while Satyendar Jain too held meetings with officials.

Environment Minister Imran Hussain also reviewed the ambient air quality during meetings attended by senior officers.