New Delhi: In March, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) wrote to the Ministry of Education with a list of 23 vehicles — including five Ciaz cars, seven SX4s, three ambassadors, a Rajdoot bike and a Royal Enfield — lying abandoned in Shastri Bhawan and posing a ‘security threat’.
These vehicles have now made it to a list of items — which includes hundreds of discarded photocopiers and desktops — languishing at Shastri Bhawan and other Central Secretariat offices, that will be auctioned off by the Centre during a month-long special cleanliness campaign beginning 2 October. Shastri Bhawan houses a large number of ministries and government departments.
With this initiative to “free up space” in its offices, the government also seeks to make Rs 400 crore.
Under the drive, which was launched in 2021, old files will also be put through shredders, for which staff in central government offices have been grading them over the last fortnight in categories A, B and C in the order of importance. While pending files on important matters, such as past policy decisions, are being preserved, old leave applications, and medical claim applications will be weeded out.
According to records maintained by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAPRG), which is steering the campaign, the Centre earned Rs 62.54 crore under the initiative in 2021. In 2022, the earnings rose to Rs 370.8 crore as the campaign was scaled up significantly. ThePrint has accessed the official records.
“This year, the target is to generate Rs 400 crore in revenue through scrap disposal. But the initiative is not just about generating money. There has been a perceptible change in government offices due to this campaign. As many as 60 lakh files have been weeded out, office space measuring 100 lakh square feet have been freed up,” DAPRG secretary V. Srinivas said to ThePrint.
In the initial years of the Modi government, the special drive involved just weeding out old files. Srinivas said that while the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) has a detailed section on management of official records, the norms were not being followed. The CSMOP was subsequently reviewed and streamlined to make it more user friendly.
The CSMOP states that ‘A’ category files are meant to be kept and microfilmed for administrative purposes because they may act as references or could be of historical importance. Such files include papers regarding the Constitution and legal opinion on important matters, while ‘B’ category files include Cabinet notes and other policy decisions.
“But over the years, hundreds of applications for leave, medical claim, travel allowances from employees etc have piled up across ministries. Such files are not to be retained beyond a year. But the policy was not being enforced. Hundreds of staffers are currently poring over files to identify such papers to put them through shredder machines,” Srinivas said.
He added that while weeding out old files freed up the record rooms and desks of officials, the government felt that “it was not enough”, and decided to scale up [in 2021] the annual campaign by bringing under its ambit the task of disposing scrap too. Rooms and corridors overflowing with items which are not in use anymore is a common sight in most government offices.
Meanwhile, the primary source of revenue from the campaigns is vehicles, Srinivas said, adding that e-scrap occupies the second position. On 13 March, the CISF wrote to the Ministry of Education, flagging as many as 23 ‘abandoned cars’ in the premises of Shastri Bhawan.
“…it is a security threat as well as part of an observation made by higher formation of CISF during security audits. It has therefore been desired that these abandoned vehicles may be removed from the premises at the earliest,” the CISF wrote.
Subsequently, the ministry decided to include them in the list of items it plans to auction off under the special campaign. “The auctioning is carried out through the Government e-Marketplace portal. A total of 22 empanelled vendors will participate in the bidding process,” Shrinivas said.
To be sure, the Centre has also institutionalised the exercise by making it mandatory for all ministries to carry out cleanliness drives, albeit at a limited scale, on a weekly basis. On 25 August, Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba wrote to secretaries of all ministries that it was decided last year that the “exercise of reducing pendency should be undertaken on a continuous basis”. ThePrint has seen Gauba’s letter.
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For a neater look
While the situation has improved due to the last two special drives, the focus is also shifting to improving the look of otherwise drab government offices, said Farida M Naik, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines.
“A proposal on using rock samples unearthed by the Geological Survey of India at its drilling spots as artwork is being considered. A few artists have also been consulted,” she said.
“Also, ministries will try to improve the look of Shastri Bhawan by cleaning up the entrances which look shabby now. For example, the idea is to make people feel that they are entering a mine area when they visit the Mines Ministry. The use of flex boards is being discontinued and digital screens will be used instead. Power guzzling hot cases [which are rarely switched off] are also being scrapped,” Naik said.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)