Kolkata, 12 October (H.S.) : State Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal on Monday launched a sharp attack on the state's administrative set-up and the policies of the previous Trinamool Congress government, speaking at a ceremony at Netaji Indoor Stadium where appointment letters were handed to newly recruited police constables.

Strongly criticising the contractual appointment policy, he said the arbitrary recruitment of contractual staff in the past had left government departments facing a serious shortage of permanent posts. Addressing the new recruits, he said winning the trust of ordinary people should be their foremost duty.

By rule, the state should have 10 lakh permanent government employees, but at present it has only 5.5 lakh, the Chief Secretary said. I felt this shortage of staff deeply while conducting the elections. The situation had reached a point where we had to think about borrowing employees from other states.

Commenting on the previous government's tenure, he said, Under the last government, we saw contractual workers being hired arbitrarily for almost every government job. Those workers themselves did not know whether they would still have their jobs the next morning. Naturally, such workers had no long-term accountability towards their work.

Outlining the current government's stand, he said all vacant posts would be filled through the Public Service Commission (PSC), in keeping with the Constitution. He said the PSC chairman has been clearly instructed that no candidate should receive any extra consideration, even on the recommendation of the Chief Secretary or the Chief Minister.

Referring to the police force's recent past, he said, For roughly six to seven years in between, there was a period when the public held no good opinion of the police. I am saying this with full responsibility: the police were subjected to undue influence for political reasons. Work with such honesty and courage that criminals and anti-social elements are afraid to break the law.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh