Nayeem Akhter the incumbent Works Minister and most trusted cabinet colleague of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is bring into disrepute R&B department the way he had brought into disrepute the education department. Though missing the target of completing the dream project of Jahangir Chowk-Natipora fly over within given time frames has become a routine practice for the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) overseeing the work on the project but this year the government attached the Chief of Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) just to punish him to satisfy its ego but not pacing up the work of the first biggest flyover project in Kashmir valley. Though government can justify its decision of attaching the outgoing ERA Chief on account of missing yet another deadline for completion of the new Srinagar fly over from Jahangir Chowk to Natipora but it has no reason to justify the decision of giving the addition charge of CEO ERA to Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary already overburdened with the work of the key departments the portfolios’ of which are held by Chief Minister herself. Even naives can understand that to ensure the completion of the first phase of the Jahangir Chowk-Natipora flyover the full fledged charge of CEO ERA should have been given independently to any senior officer who could ensure time bound execution of the work on this fly over and other dream projects of the state government. Unfortunately the government without bothering to dig out the roots of the unprecedented delay caused in the completion of Jahangir Chowk-Natipora flyover from time to time handed over the charge of CEO ERA to Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary who being the second busiest bureaucrat after the Chief Secretary of the state can’t spare time to oversee the working of this new Srinagar fly over and other dream projects requiring the independent attention of the individual senior officers of the state government . Incompletion of the work in the stipulated time period surely shows the dereliction of duty shown by an officer but merely punishing officers for dereliction of duty can’t rectify the wrongs causing unprecedented delays in execution of the dream projects of the state government.
Attaching one officer and sparing others shows the government’s failure in fixing the collective responsibility on the team tasked the job of particular development works in the state.
Putting right people in right places shows the wisdom of the government. The failure of the CEO ERA in completing Jahangir Chowk-Srinagar flyover shows the incompetence of the minister in judging the capacity of officers in undertaking the work on the first biggest fly over in Srinagar. If at all Chief Minister had to punish the people the responsible for the unprecedented delay in the completion of the first phase of Jahangir Chowk-Natipora fly over the first axe should have fallen on the minister and not only CEO ERA all officers connected with the overseeing of the work of this fly over should have been attached. Attaching one officer and sparing others shows the government’s failure in fixing the collective responsibility on the team tasked the job of particular development works in the state.
