Bureaucracy impedes progress: KTR

Hyderabad: Convincing the bureaucracy is the first challenge being faced by the public representatives in India for long. "It's human nature to resist any change. Every new scheme or proposal eventually meets with resistance from the bureaucracy," said IT Minister K T Rama Rao.

The minister was participating in an interactive session with the students of Gitam University here on Tuesday. Replying to a question by a student on the challenges when it comes to the policymaking and implementation, KTR said it was resistance from the bureaucracy. "The typical thinking in the bureaucracy is that the public representatives do not know much. They feel that they are smarter and educated and they only can execute the work," he said.

"Bureaucrats feel that we are guest artistes for five years and they are permanent artistes. While this being the fundamental challenge, the finances are the second challenge," said the minister. Recalling an incident, KTR said IAS officer Shwetha Mohanty had written a letter to him stating how sceptical she was of the Haritha Haram programme when it was started. He said when he became an MLA for the first time from Sircilla, he had no clue as to what the duties of an MLA were. "There is a five-tier system of governance in India right from the Union government, State, Zilla Parishad, Taluka to Gram Panchayat. There is no clarity what a councillor needs to do, there is a lot of confusion," he said, adding that if there is a will the bureaucracy will fall in line. The minister also recalled how the engineers were apprehensive of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's decision to complete Mission Bhagiratha within three and half years.