The three separate meetings that Chief Minister Mayawati recently held with senior officials — IGs or DIGs, divisional commissioners and the principal secretaries or secretaries of all departments — clearly indicates her attempt to ensure decentralisation of power at various levels of the administration.

Interestingly, after the poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati desperately tried to develop a centralised system of administration by tasking the senior officials to review the development projects as well as the law and order situation in the state.

She had also introduced the sector system in which the officers of the rank of principal secretaries were tasked to monitor the government schemes, while the job of ADG, IG and DIG-rank officers was to review the law and order situation.

Three months after the Lok Sabha polls, she has rectified her decision by discontinuing the sector system and holding the senior officers of the rank of IG/DIG, divisional commissioners and principal secretaries accountable for the laxity, if any, in their areas of jurisdiction.

“She seems to be back to her original frame of mind. Her fresh move reflects her effort to make her officers realise about their respective duties,” said a source in the Chief Minister’s Office.

“It reflects her concern for strengthening the position of officers at every level,” said another IAS officer.

According to the officer, the government is back to the old system and therefore it has tried to empower the divisional commissioners to monitor the development schemes in their concerned area. “She has sent a message that the divisional commissioners are empowered enough to take action against the respective district magistrates,” said a senior IAS officer.

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