LAHORE: The Punjab government has asked the assistant commissioners (ACs) across the province to perform their assigned tasks diligently, warning them that from now onward they would be rewarded or punished as per their performance under a ‘carrot-and-stick’ policy.

The newly-posted Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Irum Bukhari, on Wednesday presided over a conference of the ACs posted across the province, including those serving in south Punjab to “get to know each other” and discuss the ways to deliver more effectively.

The holding of the meeting in Lahore raises questions on the working of South Punjab secretariat, as an ACS has already posted there for monitoring of the ACs posted in the region and performing other administrative tasks.

The ACs serving in Lahore division attended the meeting in person at the Punjab Civil Secretariat, while all other ACs joined it through the video-link.

Ms Bukhari, it is learnt, told the ACs that though there were several monitoring apps available with the Punjab government, she would soon be making an app available to specifically monitor their performance on a monthly basis.

Specific app to monitor their performance

She stated that her department had developed a proforma that would be shared with all the ACs for their input to improve the monitoring mechanism across the province.

She identified five tasks to be initially monitored – visits to Arazi centres and resolution of issues being faced by the masses, revenue recovery through state land retrieval and other sources, redressing complaints filed on the Prime Minister’s Portal and control of daily-use items’ prices.

The ACS said the ACs’ performance would be ranked on a monthly basis and she would consult with the chief secretary and the chief minister to offer incentives and recognition of the best performers at the top level. Similarly, she said those showing poor performance or irresponsible attitude in resolving the public issues would be taken to task.

As Dawn spoke to different ACs, they expressed their skepticism about the Punjab government’s ‘carrot and stick policy’, saying such initiatives were also taken in the past, but without any concrete outcome.

They also questioned the evaluation criteria as the ground realities, including level of political interference etc, were not the same in all the 147 tehsils of the province.

They said how a uniform criteria to judge their performance could be evolved when the issues like occupied state land or encroachments and price control etc varied in different tehsils. Similarly, they said there might be few complaints on the PM’s portal in some tehsils, while in some others there could be a huge backlog of such grievances. Will ACs posted in the low-workload tehsils be losing their ‘marks’ and never be able to reach to the top despite their diligence? asked some of the officers.

It is learnt that during the meeting the ACs expressed their grave concerns at the treatment meted out to their colleagues in Sahiwal (row with a civil judge) and Pakpattan (manhandling by a local politician).

Ms Bukhari, reportedly, said the Punjab government was standing behind its officers and making efforts to make the ACs service more vibrant.

She also stressed that the ACs must ensure that the services being offered by the government must reach to the people at grassroots level.

“It is Punjab government’s primary responsibility to offer corruption-free services to the masses at the grassroots level,” Ms Bukhari said.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2021