AIS officers’ field visits, night halts mandatory

Now, IAS, IPS and IFS officers are bound to make field visits and night halts as it will be included in their PerformanceAppraisal Report (APR).

The Union Government has advised the State Government to make itmandatory for the serving All India Service (AIS) officers to go forground level inspection and make night halts in the field.

While the State Government has stipulated regular district visits forthe senior IAS officers, the Centre has advised it for AIS officers,which includes IAS, IPS and IFS officers.

In Odisha senior Secretaries are visiting districts on regular basisas Chief Minister is insisting for such monthly visit and hepersonally is reviewing the visits.

The Chief Secretary is continuously monitoring the district visits ofthe Principal Secretaries and Secretaries and keeping a tab on suchtours, said sources.

While addressing the National Conference of the Chief Secretaries, the Prime Minister had directed the State Governments to make field visit mandatory for AIS officers.

For good governance, ground level inspections are to be made mandatory for AIS officers, said the Prime Minister.

He categorically said the field visits necessarily involve night halts in the field, interaction with the locals and follow up monitoring through technology.

Details and results of these field visits should be documented in order to preserve institutional memory and assist practical decision making.

Further, District Gazetteer should be regularly updated and all these steps may be made mandatory and included in PAR for the AIS officers.

As NITI Aayog will convene Second National Conference of Chief Secretaries next month, the Aayog has reminded the State Government of the issue.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has urged the State Government to provide an Action Taken Report on various decisions taken in that national meet of Chief Secretaries.

One of such decisions was to make field visit mandatory for AIS Officers, said sources.

In the meantime, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked the Secretaries to send Action Taken Report on the recommendations of the Chief Secretaries meet.

On Good Governance point, Odisha is better placed on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). While Tamilnadu, Kerala and Assam need improvement on EoDB, Odisha has performed well, officials say.

Similarly on skill development, the State has performed well and Chief Secretary Padhi presented the this sector as one of the best practices, where the State is directly involved in placement process for highly skilled employees and engaging with potential employers for the same.