The state government engaged senior IAS officers to monitor and supervise development projects and schemes after chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed concern over delay in implementation of several projects during her recent district review meetings.

In a recent order issued by the office of the chief secretary, senior officers in the rank of additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries have been assigned to supervise and monitor all development schemes and submit inputs to the government after visiting the districts concerned.

The order says that these senior officials will act as “district coordinators, for supervision and monitoring of all developmental schemes in the district concerned including Duare Sarkar and Paray Samadhan projects”.

“The officers were requested to visit, inspect, monitor and supervise all the important schemes being implemented in the district,” reads the order.

The officers have been asked to send inputs on a portal called Samannay on whether the schemes were being implemented properly in the districts.

The order instructs officers to visit the districts at regular intervals, inspect projects/schemes physically and identify gaps in implementation, if any.

Senior officers will monitor rural housing, MGNREGA and drinking water projects, pensions, Swasthya Sathi, scholarship for students, Kishan Credit Card and Krishak Bandhu schemes and issuing of caste certificates.

“This clearly suggests the top brass of the government is serious in finding out loopholes.... This is a good initiative as the experience of senior officers can be of help,”said a bureaucrat.

Sources in the government said with the panchayat election next year, the chief minister was worried about proper implementation of several welfare schemes in districts.

“In the last panchayat polls, Trinamul faced debacles in backward districts like Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram. The government identified some problems in terms of welfare and development schemes in these areas. Now the ruling establishment is not ready to take any chance ahead of rural polls in 2023,” said a senior panchayat department official.

During the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic, senior IAS officers acted as district coordinators, visited districts regularly and helped authorities set up healthcare infrastructure. The same policy worked when the state government launched Duare Sarkar. Senior officers helped the district authorities deliver services to the common people despite huge rush in the camps.

“Now, the state government has adopted the tried-and-tested policy to ensure there is no grievance of delay in implementation of development schemes ahead of rural polls,” said a Nabanna official.