Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday urged officials to convert concepts suggested by political heads into schemes for the benefit of the people, especially the poor and said works that can be done as per rules should not be delayed.

Addressing HP Administrative Service trainee officials at Himachal Institute for Public Administration at Mashobra in Shimla, Thakur said the politicians, many times, suggest or ask to do many things but it’s true that all these things can’t be done as per rules.

The officer can explain the rules or difficulties in doing such to the political head but the works that can be done as per rules, should be completed on time as these benefit many people or communities.

“And sometimes, it has been seen that some officials pursue or work as per agenda and they delay work for months while in reality it can be completed in a week.

The officials, being in the public domain, shouldn’t follow such behaviour (we are the ones who will issue orders and won’t do it) as it creates a bad perception towards them,” he added.

Thakur stated that being rooted to the ground, he had noticed that people in rural areas face problems in getting their small grievances resolved and they had to waste their precious time to meet government officials.

It was with this objective that the state government launched the ‘Jan Manch’ programme to ensure that the public grievances were redressed nearer to the homes and footfall in government offices could be reduced.

In addition, the HIMCARE scheme was launched to cover the left-out population of the state that was not covered under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana launched by the Union Government.

Likewise, the Sahara Yojna was launched to provide financial assistance of Rs 3000 per month to the family of a chronically ill patient, the CM said.

He also urged the officials to come up with innovative ideas and think out of the box so that innovative programmes and result oriented policies could be framed to ensure socio-economic upliftment and welfare of every section of the society.

“The government Administrative Services officers must work with dedication and commitment so that they can meet the expectations of the common man and contribute towards the development of the state.

Whatever assignment was provided must be accomplished with commitment and conviction,” he stated.

He further stated the masses had built a perception regarding politicians as well as government servants, thus, it was vital that the officers work with greater zeal to meet the expectations of the general public.

The officers must think out of the box and ensure that they leave an indelible mark on the lives of people of the area they have served and they must also ensure that the benefits of government’s policies reach the person living at the lowest ebb.

He exhorted them to reach out to the beneficiaries so that maximum people could be covered to avail the benefits of development projects.