Dev talks tough on cadre war

CHANDIGARH: Taking a tough stand on the cadre war between officials of Punjab, Haryana and the AGMUT cadre posted with the UT Administration, new UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev, a 1987-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, on the first day of his joining, warned UT officials to “leave behind the tag of Punjab, Haryana and UT, and work as a team for the residents of Chandigarh”.

New UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev at the UT Guest House on Wednesday. Also seen are (on his left) UT SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, a Punjab-cadre IPS officer, and Maneesh Chaudhary, SSP, Traffic, a Haryana-cadre IPS officer. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24

Taking a tough stand on the cadre war between officials of Punjab, Haryana and the AGMUT cadre posted with the UT Administration, new UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev, a 1987-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, on the first day of his joining, warned UT officials to “leave behind the tag of Punjab, Haryana and UT, and work as a team for the residents of Chandigarh”.

During a one-hour meeting at the UT Guest House with UT officials immediately after reaching Chandigarh, Dev told officials, “When somebody is in Chandigarh, he does not belong to Punjab, Haryana and UT. Our loyalty has to be towards Chandigarh, towards its residents. So whatever we do, whoever we are, from wherever we have come, our allegiance should be towards the city residents.”

During the past three years, there were controversies over postings in the UT. Haryana-cadre bureaucrats cried foul over being sidelined in the distribution of portfolios at the cost of UT-cadre officers.

UT Home Secretary Anil Kumar, a Haryana-cadre IAS officer, wrote to the Haryana Government stating that Haryana-cadre officials were being sidelined in Chandigarh. Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev said, “Once all officers of the UT Administration realise that they do not belong to any cadre but belong to Chandigarh and start identifying themselves as part of Chandigarh, all these problems will be solved”.

The new Adviser has directed all heads of departments to prepare a presentation of their respective department about the strength of employees, work allocation to them, and status of pending projects.