CPM asks for annual report from ministers

KOLKATA: The CPM leadership has asked all ministers belonging to the party to submit their annual performance report for this year. The decision comes in the wake of efforts by the Left Front to instill better work culture in the state.According to Cabinet sources, the reports will be discussed in a meeting on November 5.State CPM secretary Anil Biswas has written a letter to the party ministers to be present in the meeting where the performance of some key departments would be discussed.The self-evaluation exercise is crucial for the ruling party before it plunges into campaign for the forthcoming panchayat poll.Since the development projects are badly hit by severe financial crisis, the party will plan its campaign strategy carefully following this exercise, a senior minister pointed out.Though the deadline for submitting the reports was October 30, some ministers failed to do so even on Thursday.However, industry minister Nirupam Sen and Information technology minister Manab Mukherjee were among the ministers who had already submitted their reports, sources said. Health and panchayat minister Suryakanta Misra is likely submit his report on his return to the city on Friday.State finance minister Asim Dasgupta's report is most crucial since it would shaped into the government's document on the financial situation in the state assembly which will meet December 9.The guidelines over the evaluation would be shaped in the party state secretariat meeting on Friday. Both Sen and Misra are members the secretariat.After Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took over from Jyoti Basu, Biswas had promised to hold annual evaluation of the ministerial performances to promote leadership accountability, holistic performance as well as speed and quality in the government functioning.However, other Left Front partners were sceptical about the exercise. RSP, CPI and Forward Bloc resented the decision of annual performance reports.