Views on TN Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam’s initiative to make civil servants more responsive are divided.

In a circular dated July 10 to DMs/collectors, he spelled out a 10-point plan to improve local administration in the state. The plan instructs DMs/collectors to increase field visits; focus on rural transformation through economic development; ensure construction of brick and cement houses for hut dwellers; launch a special drive to complete pending drinking water works; accord “special attention” to agriculture and allied activities; and promote greater public participation for water conservation and better management of water bodies.

While some see the initiative as an encroachment into the political domain, there are officials who believe that DMs/collectors are already accountable for their performance through multi-layered screening procedures for their performance appraisal.

However, some officials support the initiative of the CS. They point out that the Sterlite plant and the proposed Chennai-Salem Expressway ran into controversies, the Collectors of Thoothukudi and Salem districts would have responded in a better manner than the way they did, had there been a better system of oversight in place.