Public Accounts Committee chairperson Girish Bapat on Monday expressed his displeasure over the apathetic approach of the state government towards the recommendations of the committee. The BJP MLA was speaking after tabling the PAC report for the year 2012-13.
“I express my concern about no action being taken by the government on our recommendations. The government needs to publish a report. Strict action needs to be taken so as to have a control on corrupt and incompetent officials,” said Mr Bapat.
Pointed out various issues related to state departments, he said, “If a chairperson of PAC like me tables a report, it is not for the government to throw it the dustbin. If you have a committee of MLAs, you should value its recommendation,” said Mr Bapat.
The PAC report has singled out serious shortcomings in the administration of various departments of the state. With respect to home department, the PAC has expressed concern over the fact that out of a total sanctioned strength of 2,34,025 posts, 22,792 posts are vacant. Also, there are as many as 1,023 vacancies in sanctioned strength of 4,687 posts of jail staff.
He then went on and said that the police needs to be updated as far as Naxal and terrorist activities were concerned, adding that in two years, as much as `1,000 crore had been sanctioned for police modernisation, but they were still wielding canes. “I am going to request the home minister to purchase the weapons for security at the earliest,” he said.