Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has suspended 15 officials and field engineers for what the government described as extreme negligence and poor-quality disposal of public grievances submitted through the Sahyog portal. The action, announced on Tuesday, also includes departmental proceedings against the suspended personnel.
The suspended officials include eight circle officers, one block development officer, one executive officer, one assistant engineer, three junior engineers and one revenue inspector, according to a communique issued by the Chief Minister’s Office. The officials are posted across several districts and departments, including public health engineering and revenue administration.
Under the Sahyog programme, applications related to public grievances are required to be disposed of within 30 days. Complaints submitted through the portal are monitored directly at the level of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, according to the report. The government said the suspended officials failed to ensure timely and satisfactory resolution of applications.
The action covers circle officers Jay Prakash of Haveli Kharagpur, Archana Kumari of Tetia Bambar, Sanjeev Kumar of Korha, Santosh Kumar Suman of Naugachia, Pankaj Kumar of Forbesganj, Ramesh Kumar of Bodh Gaya, Ranjit Kumar Upadhyay of Makhdumpur and Priyanka Singh of Triveniganj. Ravi Ranjan, block development officer of Ara Sadar, and Veena Vaishali, executive officer of Nirmali and Simrahi, are also among those suspended.
Other suspended personnel include Rohit Kumar Dubey, assistant engineer in the Public Health Engineering Division in Sheikhpura; three junior engineers from different Public Health Engineering Department divisions; and Shubham Kumar, a revenue inspector currently posted at Bajpatti in Sitamarhi district. The source report did not identify the divisions of the three junior engineers.
Following the suspension orders, the chief minister directed district magistrates, departmental secretaries, department heads and officials of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to review both the timeliness and quality of decisions on Sahyog applications. Additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, secretaries and district magistrates were instructed to verify decisions taken on grievance applications.
Choudhary said officials must examine the applicant’s problem and expectations before issuing a decision or resolution. He also directed authorities to take strict disciplinary action against officials or employees found delaying applications instead of resolving them. “All officers should understand the basic spirit of the Sahyog programme and discharge their responsibility in a better manner,” he said, according to the Chief Minister’s Office communique.
