Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday visited the state secretariat 'Mantralaya' for the first time after recovering from a spine surgery which he underwent in November last year, and asked the state administration to focus on paperless governance with increased use of technology.
The 61-year-old CM had undergone a cervical spine surgery in November last year at a hospital in Mumbai. Prior to it, he was holding various official meetings online in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He was often criticised by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for not attending meetings from his office in the secretariat.
On Wednesday, Thackeray visited the social justice, revenue, general administration, home, law and judiciary departments in the secretariat and interacted with employees about having a paperless system, as per a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office.
In a meeting with bureaucrats, the chief minister was told that from April 6 onwards, official files and documents were being digitalised and unnecessary papers were being destroyed.
During the meeting, Thackeray asked officials to "focus more on paperless governance and increased use of technology to expedite decision-making," the statement said.
Thackeray garlanded the portraits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Babasaheb Ambedkar in the secretariat's lobby.
Meanwhile, when a reporter told Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar that Thackeray attended his office at the Mantralaya earlier in the morning, the NCP chief said, "Did he come today? Arre waah! Basically, his health was not good."
The NCP chief noted that several chief ministers in the country take decisions while operating from their official residences which have secretariats.
”We have a secretariat at 'Varsha' (the Maharashtra chief minister's official residence). So, whether he came to Mantralaya or not, work did not stop. The work is going on. He clears files on time, takes decisions. So, I am not worried about it," Pawar said.
Thackeray had some restrictions due to his health issues and now those issues seem to have eased, he said, adding, "I am happy that he has come (to Mantralaya)."
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