NEW DELHI: Maximum government and minimum governance is the story of Delhi’s ever-bloating Aam Aadmi Party government structure. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will appoint two highly paid consultants each for himself and his ministers. Several appointments are stuck due to the confrontation between the state government and the Centre. Sources said since Kejriwal is expanding his wings in Gujarat, Punjab and Goa, he will need his trusted lieutenants to campaign relentlessly. “Before taking the leap, he wants to put his house in order and assign innumerable responsibilities to private persons to execute various projects and policies in Delhi,” the source said. Hiring private personnel like AAP volunteers in government has invited much criticism.
Applications will be invited for 14 private consultants, who will be paid monthly salaries of over Rs 2.5 lakh.
The state cabinet has approved the proposal this week. Sources said the finance department objected when Kejriwal demanded consultants be given travel perks at par with bureaucrats, saying such facilities cannot be provided to ‘private persons’. Government sources said a furious Kejriwal directed Chief Secretary KK Sharma to hold a meeting with Principal Secretary (Finance) SN Sahai to incorporate the perks in the salaries of consultants.
In contrast, Sharma gets around Rs 1.75 lakh a month. The consultants’ job is to ease the ministers’ burden. The state government had recently alleged that there are 309 sanctioned posts of DANICS officers in Delhi government but the Centre provided only 165.
The AAP government is appointing private consultants to supposedly ease the burden of ministers. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia holds 11 portfolios, which include Education, Finance, Planning, Land and Building, Revenue, Vigilance, Services, Administrative Reforms, Information Technology, Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs, and any department not specifically allotted to any minister. Gopal Rai has employment, development, labour, general administration department, irrigation and flood control in his kitty.
Satyendra Jain has seven portfolios—health, industries, public work department, power, home, transport and urban development. While Sandeep Kumar heads women and child, social welfare and SC and ST, Kapil Mishra runs the ministries of tourism, art, culture and languages, water and gurudwara elections. Imran Hussain helms the food and supply, environment and forest and election portfolios.
The private consultants will advise ministers on government policy. “They will carry out inspections of the implementation of various projects launched by the ministers,” said a top bureaucrat.
Sources said the minimum qualification required for private consultants is expertise in health, education, governance, environment, transportation, urbanisation and planning. They will also guide and oversee the work of 30 scholars appointed by the state under the Delhi CM’s Urban Leaders Fellowship Programme at Rs 1.25 lakh per month. Assistant scholars get Rs 75,000 a month.
They were hired to inspect background preparations for the launch of reforms, project management, fast-tracking implementation of priority projects, providing ground-upwards feedback to ministers and secretaries on progress of key programmes and strengthening concurrent monitoring and evaluation in key programmes. They will even monitor bureaucrats. The consultants will also help ministers in government processes and functioning, communication, leadership and conflict resolution. Sources in the State Secretariat said after the HC order rendering illegal all decisions made by Kejriwal government without the Lieutenant Governor’s approval, bureaucrats, who were confused over the pecking order, will now go strictly by the book. As a result, more and more private recruits will be hired at taxpayers’ expense.