NRP Desk
Lucknow: Junior doctors and highly experienced doctors perform the same duties: examining patients and prescribing appropriate treatment. In the case of technocrats (govt engineers), junior officers oversee fieldwork, whereas senior officers often get disconnected from ground realities. Burdened with administrative responsibilities or other factors, senior engineers gradually lose touch with onsite learning and practical exposure. Several instances have been observed where senior technocrats, seemingly frustrated, instruct junior staff to overlook critical issues for various reasons. In early 2020, a ‘think tank committee’ was established at the Public Works Department headquarters under the leadership of the then minister. A presentation was made on measures to involve senior officers more actively in fieldwork to enhance quality and service delivery. An earlier case was revisited in which there was a dispute with a contractor regarding the quantity of material supplied for a road construction project. When the matter of overpayment was raised, a senior officer responded that he was not concerned about right or wrong, he only appreciated the one who could manage the “business” in an amicable manner.
