SAD says Manpreet could improve efficiency of officers by learning to do official work in Punjabi
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said finance minister Manpreet Badal should try to improve the efficiency of the State bureaucracy by learning to do official work in Punjabi.
In a statement here, former minister and SAD spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal said it was befuddling as to why the finance minister was trying to improve the English skills of civil officers by raising this issue at the concluding function of the World Punjabi Conference.
“If the finance minister had raised the issue of improving the Punjabi writing skills of civil officers, many of whom are from other States, it would have been understandable. But he is questioning the English writing skills of the officers even though they have passed the requisite test for the same before being inducted into the civil services. This raises questions on the selection process of the UPSC which has tested and selected them”, he added.
The Akali leader said the issue also raised a wider question of what action chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh proposed to take. The CM could make arrangements for improving the English skills of the officers by asking them to go in for refresher courses. The finance minister could also disclose the names of the two officers who fit the bill as per his standards of English and ask them to conduct courses for the larger fraternity”.
Mr Grewal said in case Mr Manpreet Badal was still not satisfied he could himself take on the responsibility of teaching civil servants the art of writing memorandums by taking their personal classes or bringing in teachers from whom he had learnt to write memorandums.
“We don’t want our FM to hang his head in shame as he is surely a proud Punjabi and Punjabis never accept defeat and humiliate themselves by hanging their heads in shame. However it would be better if the finance minister spent more time on managing the finances of the State which according to him are in bad shape rather spending all his energies on improving the English skills of bureaucrats”, Mr Grewal added. -PTC News
