Mizoram demands separate all-India cadre for officials

AIZAWL, February 16: Chief Minister Zoramthanga has asked the Prime Minister to allot Mizoram a separate All-India cadre as the officials posted under the present AGMUT cadre were not under the control of the State government, which created hindrance in running a smooth administration, reports UNI. The Chief Minister raised the issue during a meeting with Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Wednesday, official sources said here. Zoramthanga observed that while the three newly-formed States had a separate cadre, Mizoram, which achieved statehood in the late eighties, still lacked one despite several representations to the Central government. There is a growing opinion that the present Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre was not practical as the officials, referred to as "brief case bureaucrats" by their local counterparts, posted here were busy either getting themselves transferred out of Mizoram or were out of the State on some pretext or the other. Former Governor A Padmanabhan while expressing similar views had told UNI in November last year that since there was no independent civil services or police services cadre for the State, it resulted in a non-committed civil service. "A joint cadre of so many States results in officials spending most of their time trying to get out of this inhospitable terrain. The time they should spend in guiding the political leaders is ill-spent in finding ways to get out of the State," the former civil servant had lamented, adding that an independent cadre would result in a more committed and loyal civil service. But, on the other hand the experience of Northeastern States with a separate cadre show that officials allotted the cadre prefer to go on a Central deputation than serving the state owing to the inhospitable terrain.