This Article is From Apr 28, 2017

Hello, It's Yogi Adityanath: Officers Warned He'll Call On Landline Too

Hello, It's Yogi Adityanath: Officers Warned He'll Call On Landline Too

Yogi Adityanath said he can call UP officials on thier landlines "at any time" during work hours

Highlights

  • To ensure officers are at work, Chief Minister will call on landline
  • If they don't answer, they need to furnish explanation
  • He has already said he expects 18-20 hour workdays
Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath is covering all bases to ensure that government and other officials are working around the clock to improve law and order and governance - both historically problematic - in Uttar Pradesh. Today, they've been put on notice with the warning that the Chief Minister could call them "at any time" on landlines at their offices between 9 am and 6 pm; unless they are able to justify not being able to take his call because they were at work elsewhere ("in the field"), penalties could follow.

The alert was issued today on behalf of the 44-year-old Chief Minister by Shrikant Sharma, a senior minister in the new government of India's most populous state.

Senior police officers have been told that because they are often out inspecting areas or supervising their juniors, they will have a little more flexibility with the new rule; senior administrative officials - District Magistrates - however, will find it tougher to excuse themselves. The Chief Minister's rationale is that if the top bosses are present at office, juniors will have to follow. All senior officers have also been ordered to immediately close any home offices.

Yogi Adityanath, a saffron robe-wearing monk, has made it clear that he expects his administration to put in long hours. Within days of taking over in March, he warned that anyone who had issues with "at least 18-20 hour" workdays should consider an alternative career. He has launched surprise attendance checks at ministries and cancelled 15 holidays observed usually to commemorate the birth anniversaries of famous Indian leaders, all as part of an attempted overhaul of his state's dark record of crime.

However, days ago, two police stations in and near Agra were attacked by mobs that allegedly included members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth outfit he launched many years ago. Yesterday, a member of parliament from his party, the BJP, warned in Lucknow that she would "skin alive" a cop who she declared guilty of corruption.
 
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