Arvind Kejriwal on day one in office, transfers 9 senior bureaucrats

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Dec 28:  Nine senior bureaucrats, including the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board, have been transferred by Arvind Kejriwal, who took charge of the Delhi government on Saturday.

On his first day in office as Delhi’s new chief minister, Mr Kejriwal worked for six straight hours. At around 1:30 pm, the 45-year-old drove in his blue Wagon-R to the Delhi Secretariat in central Delhi, less than two hours after taking oath at the Ramlila Maidan, a ceremony which was attended by over a lakh people. He left office at 7:30 pm. Today, Mr Kejriwal is working from home where he has reportedly fixed several key meetings. "We have formed the government but now a lot needs to be done," he said this morning.

 

Despite Saturday being a holiday, officials and staff were present at the Delhi Secretariat to attend to the new chief minister. With Mr Kejriwal taking charge, sources say that the Delhi Secretariat may now work six-days-a-week.

In his six hours at work on Saturday, Mr Kejriwal met the heads of the Delhi Jal Board, Indraprastha Gas Limited, Delhi’s Police Commissioner BS Bassi, and called two cabinet meetings with his team.

One of Mr Kejriwal’s senior ministers, Manish Sisodia, who is the Minister for Education, met the Director of Education, and called for scrapping of the management quota in admissions. He also said he will keep a close watch on the donation system and the nursery admission process will be a top priority.

Law Minister Somnath Bharti has asked officials to prepare an agenda chart to chalk out the priorities of the department. Mr Bharti, a lawyer, has also asked the officials to come up with the number of posts that are vacant in the judiciary. He said that security of women will be the law ministry’s top priority and cases relating to violence against women should be wrapped up within six months.

Rakhi Birla, one of the youngest to take oath at 26, said she quit her job as a journalist and joined the Aam Aadmi Party because of the Delhi gang-rape. Ms Birla is in-charge of the women and child welfare department. She told NDTV that she has brought retired armymen on board to seek advice on improving the security of women in the national capital.

Health Minister Satyendra Jain spent his evening by paying a surprise visit to the government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in central Delhi.

Saurabh Bhardwaj, minister of food and supply, and transport, said he found the work culture at the Delhi Secretariat ’disturbing." The 33-year-old also said he felt strange when senior bureaucrats addressed him as ’Sir’.



Arvind Kejriwal seeks 10 days to resolve problems of people in Delhi


A day after he took over as the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal today sought ten days’ time to formulate a system to address grievances and problems of the people in Delhi.

He said that he would accept the applications of the people visiting him only after a system is in place.

"I don’t want to give you false assurances. I will take the application when we put a system in place to resolve the problems," he said.

He assured the visitors, who gathered in large numbers at his residence, that he needed the support of the people to establish such a system and without their backing, he would not be able resolve issues.

"We have just assumed power. It will take us sometime, seven to ten days to put a system in place to resolve your problems," he said, addressing a gathering which included Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employees and people from the Valmiki community.

Contractual employees of DTC and muncipal corporations had come to put forward their demand to end the contract system in these bodies. They also wanted that those working for several years should be made permanent.