Gwalior collector punishes himself for not meeting target

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Nov 5 (IANS) Gwalior district Collector Anurag Chaudhary has asked the treasury to withhold his and other revenue officers' salary for poor revenue recovery in the district.

This is the first time when a collector in Gwalior has introduced a disincentive to show the mirror to his subordinates over poor performance.

However, Chaudhary is known for such measures. During a recent staff meeting it was found that against the assigned target of Rs 66 crore, the recovery was a paltry Rs 3.79 crore. Following the shocker, Chaudhary directed Collectorate Treasury Officer to block his salary along with that of all revenue officers.

Chaudhary took a similar decision while he was collector at Singrauli. When the trainee patwaris pointed out to him that they had not received their salary since joining, Chaudhary instructed the treasury to pay his salary only when the patwaris were paid.

"We are paid by the government to work. Since the revenue recovery was negligible against the target, I had to act. As head of the team I had to set the example. One way was to tighten the administration by punishing myself before I acted against my colleagues. The staff will soon realise that such measures have a salutary effect," he said.

The other failure of the district administration was seen in bridling adulteration. The campaign which began in the region a couple of months ago seems to be petering out. Of the 610 cases of adulteration reported in the district the authorities had fined only 78. Most others have either been let off or are awaiting action. Some others in the department are anticipating a similar punishment as that of revenue officials.