TURA: Senior Meghalaya bureaucrat, P Sampath Kumar (IAS) who had applied for voluntary retirement and had been due to leave on March 31st, will now continue in service after his application was rescinded and cancelled following the intervention of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma who interacted with the officer and impressed upon him to reconsider the decision.
The chief minister had interacted with the outgoing bureaucrat about various issues concerning Meghalaya and the shortage of officers in the state and urged upon him to continue his services to contribute to the development of the state.
Prior to his seeking VRS, P Sampath Kumar was the Commissioner and Secretary in the Government of Meghalaya and held key portfolios including the Community and Rural Development Department and the Agriculture Department and was the Resident Commissioner at New Delhi for close to three years. He was also briefly the Chief executive officer (CEO) of the Meghalaya Basin Development Agency for five months.
The new government under Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma is coming up with a mechanism to ensure developmental projects reach each and every household in the village level within the stipulated time frame and is keen to put in place sufficient officers with a sound track record to check the delivery status of government schemes.
During the tenure of P Sampath Kumar as commissioner and secretary for C&RD, the state received record funding from the centre to the tune of an additional Rs 1000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment guarantee Act (MGNREGA) schemes. He also played a key role in introducing the social Audit Bill across the state to check delivery of government schemes in the village level across all blocks.