BHOPAL : The state may be facing financial crisis or there may be a shortage of hands in government departments but the Ministers in the state government are not ready to forego any facility.
The Public Health Engineering Minister Kusum Mehadale has as many as 27 persons in her personal staff, the salaries of whom are drawn from various departments held by her.
General Administration Department (GAD), as per rules, allots one special assistant, one private secretary, one personal assistant, one UDC and one LDC in the staff of a minister. Mehadale in her staff has employees from the departments which are headed by her. The size of her personal staff is second only after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who has the highest number of personnel in his staff.
Mehadale was accompanied by a team of 35 officers comprising 10 IAS officers, when she addressed a press conference to present her annual report card.
An official of GAD maintains there is no clear rule about the number of employees that can be deputed in the personal staff of a minister. That is why Ministers employ as many personnel as they wish.
Those in the personal staff of Mehadale include RS Raghuvanshi, special assistant, GAD, KS Rajput, private secretary, GAD, Thansingh Narvaria, private secretary, GAD, Dhaneshwar Sharma, assistant grade-2, GAD, Atmaram Sharma, assistant grade-3, GAD, Raju Patil, stenographer, PHE, Narendra Shukla, assistant manager, MP Khadi Gramodyog, Rajendra Kumar Pal, ssistant grade-3, Animal Husbandry Department, Dinesh Kumar Dubey, assistant grade-3, Horticulture Department, Pan Singh Ravat, computer operator, PHE, Chandrapratap Singh Parmar, PSO, Police department, Rajesh Singh Kushwaha, PSO, Police department, Krishna Mohan Gurung, PSO, Police department, Bharat Baghel, driver, state garage, Ram Surat, driver, fisheries, Hiraman Jadhav, driver, MP Agro, Rajesh, driver, Livestock and Hatcheries Development Corporation, Narayan Verman, peon, PHE, Kesar Samseria, peon, animal husbandry department, Ranjit Singh Lodhi, peon, GAD, Bindu Lama, peon, GAD, Rajesh Gurung, peon GAD, Arjun Parashar, peon GAD and Lokesh Saini, peon, Handicrafts Board. Besides, two gardeners have been also appointed in Mehadale’s personal staff on part- time basis.
