Minister frowns after CM issues showcause

An annoyed Bhattacharjee immediately ordered the district magistrate to issue a showcause notice to the erring official and also passed another order that no senior government official in a district will leave the station without the permission of the district magistrate. “The officials in the districts have a habit of bunking office for two-three days a week. This affects work a lot. The chief minister is quite upset over this,” a senior official at Writers’ Buildings said.

A formal order signed by Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti will be issued soon. The matter,however,took a twist as Bhattacharya,under whom Das’s department falls,defended him saying that he could not participate in the meeting because of the death of a relative. “Das did not get any showcause notice. He could not attend the CM’s meeting because of the death of a relative,” he added.

“I have not received any showcause notice. The meeting took place on Saturday. But I had to leave a day earlier because my grandmother had died,” Das told The Indian Express.

Interestingly,Das said he was not informed about the meeting. “I did not get any invitation to attend the CM’s meeting. Unless you get an invitation,you cannot attend such meetings,” he added.

Following the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls,the chief minister visits various districts on weekends to take stock of various government projects and advise ways on how to accelerate the work.