LAHORE, Oct 23: With the clock ticking, the Punjab chief minister’s secretariat has reportedly stopped issuing directives for implementation of CM’s ‘important’ orders and started instead conveying his commands to the officials concerned personally or through telephone.

The practice has been changed to have the needful done quickly as the government did not have much time to waste, officials told Dawn here on Tuesday.

Like in the past, the secretariat had been issuing directives to almost all departments, recommending resolution of people’s problems or asking for favours like transfers, postings or appointments.

There had not been 100 per cent implementation of the directives because of what officials suspect, ‘confirmation’ of those directives which the secretariat actually wanted to be implemented at a later stage, forcing a number of people to go from pillar to post to have the needful done.

“The government has less time as it is about to complete its tenure and it has started ensuring that its favourites get what they want without wasting time due to the red tape,” the officials said.

They claimed that now the Chief Minister’s Secretariat was forwarding the cases for implementation without ensuring the ‘merit’. Further, it was recommending the priority cases to the heads of various departments or administrative secretaries through ‘messengers’ or through telephone, they added. —Staff Reporter