UP CM Yogi Adityanath Tightens Screws, Asks Officers To Reach Office By 9 AM; Bureaucrats Unhappy

After PM Modi issued a similar directive for ministers, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed all the government officials in the state to reach their offices by 9 am, reports Hindustan Times.

As there were a lot of complaints that the District Magistrates and Police Chiefs remained unavailable to the common people, the CM, through an order, has said that all officers should reach their offices by 9 am and all District Magistrates and Police chiefs should meet the public from 9 am to 11 am.

However, CM's call for punctuality has not gone well with the bureaucratic setup.

Asking the CM to be rational in his contemplation behind such orders, a Police chief in Western UP said, "As Superintendent of Police, I am expected to be available till the wee hours of the morning. For instance, there was an accident in my district and I was on duty till 4 am. How can I be expected to be back in the office at 9 am then? In the districts, we are on duty almost 24x7.”

Crying foul on the call for maintaining austerity, a Principal Secretary rank officer asked, “The Chief Minister’s meetings often extend till late in the night. If we are reaching home at 11 pm, should we be expected to return to the office at 9 am the following morning?”

“More than me, it is my staff that is upset with this order. If I have to reach the office by 9 am, my driver will have to leave home at 7.30 am, so that he can reach my house in time. The similar is the case with the other staff that stays back in the office till I leave. There should be some flexibility," said an Additional Chief Secretary rank officer.