PM Indira Gandhi strengthens Centre's jurisdiction over states

It was the mountain that had come to Mohammad. Last fortnight, the chief minister's teak-panelled chamber in Bhopal's five-storey Vallabh Bhavan had a different occupant - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While Arjun Singh sat in a wooden chair behind her, Mrs Gandhi, occupying his swivel chair, enquired about the state's progress directly from the state's chief secretary and other officials.

It was the most spectacular assertion in recent history of the Centre's jurisdiction over the states and an extension of Mrs Gandhi's new operating techniques. She came with her retinue of advisers to buttonhole state officials and demand reports on the minutest of details.

She began the day with an unprecedented address to over 2,000 employees of the state's secretariat over the public address system. She then entered the conference room along with Sawai Singh Sisodia, Union minister of state for finance, C. R. Krishnaswamy Rao Saheb, cabinet secretary, D. V. Kapoor, power secretary, Satish Krishnan, secretary (co-ordination), and R. Rajamani, joint secretary, both in the prime minister's office, and other senior officials from the central ministries of Finance and Irrigation. Representing the state Government were Chief Minister Arjun Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Shivbhanu Solanki, Agriculture Minister Digvijay Singh, Chief Secretary G. Jagatpathi and the heads of over 30 departments.

Several Objectives:The avowed objective of the closed-door parleys was to shake up the state Government's administrative machinery, establish direct rapport with the local bureaucracy and sort out development problems. Confided a senior state official: "Mrs Gandhi, by her active participation in the discussions, has left the impression that she can no longer be fobbed off with excuses. She wants specific answers for lapses and feasible solution for the problems confronting our state."

The state Government had made careful preparations for the meeting. Senior civil servants had earlier been instructed to prepare detailed briefs on the work done in power generation, creation of additional irrigation facilities, implementation of the 25-point programme, law and order, mobilisation of additional resources for the Sixth Five Year Plan, and ensuring the easy availability of essential goods at reasonable prices.