Political crisis affecting Mantralaya work

MUMBAI: All administrative work in Mantralaya, the state headquarters, has virtually come to a standstill since last week due to the ongoing political crisis, government sources said.
Ministers of the Democratic Front (DF) coalition and MLAs from all political parties seem to have temporarily forgotten their official duties as they try to grapple with the numbers game to save the government.
Sources said that as it is all development work in the state had come to a grinding halt over the past few months due to the financial crunch. "Now, even the routine administrative work has been suspended as ministers are not attending meetings and no decisions are being taken," sources added.
Said a senior official, "There has not been much activity in the urban development, cooperation, public works, housing and revenue departments in Mantralaya. Many officials are taking it easy because of the ongoing shenanigans." Added another official, "All important policy decision meetings have been postponed. A number of meetings in the finance, public works, urban development and housing departments have been cancelled."
In fact, the corridors of Mantralaya had a laid-back atmosphere on Tuesday. "Several bureaucrats seem to have taken a sabbatical. They are more interested in the outcome on June 13 when the ruling and opposition parties will parade their members," the official said. However, chief secretary V. Ranganathan denied that work had been affected in the state headquarters. "Routine meetings are being held. There is no slackening in the pace of work. Important files are moving. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh held a meeting on Monday," Mr Ranganathan told TNN.
The weekly cabinet meeting is scheduled to held on Wednesday. Mr Deshmukh attended the Mumbai-Pune knowledge corridor meeting on Tuesday and another one on Maharashtra Vision 2005. On Monday, he chaired meeting on internal security along with senior defence officials.
Meanwhile, the state administration is taking special steps to ensure there is no law order problem arising out of the survival crisis dogging the DF government. A high-power meeting chaired by chief secretary V. Ranganathan was held Mantralaya on Tuesday to take stock of situation and to take pre-emptive measures in view of the DF government’s confidence motion scheduled for June 13, senior Mantralaya sources said. The meeting attended by additional chief secretary, home, Asoke Basak, director general of police Subhash Malhotra and commissioner of police M.N. Singh, among others. Mr Ranganathan, though, told TNN that the administration has been holding routine meetings all along. "We do not fear any special problem because of the confidence vote," he said.
This is the first time in the state that tensions are at such a feverish pitch. Further, the light of the confusion surrounding the alleged defection/abduction of Congress MLA Padmakar Walvi, the home department does not want to take any chances, sources said. "MLAs of all parties could be under tremendous pressure to stay loyal and, equally, to defect to the rival group. This in turn, could become a law and order problem," an official said.