Chief secretaries are rarely known for making loose statements. On the contrary, they are seldom known to say anything of significance in public. It, therefore, came as a surprise when newspapers reported last week that deputy commissioners have been instructed to spend at least ?60 nights? every year in the villages.

P.P. Sharma, chief secretary to the government of Jharkhand, was quoted as saying that if necessary, the deputy commissioners should spend the night in tents. On their return, the deputy commissioners would be expected to submit a report on the situation at the grassroot level, the CS was quoted as saying.

Nobody appears to have taken the instruction seriously. Even the most popular newspaper in the state capital pushed the report to an inconspicuous corner of page 2.

The instruction, the newsmen would have reasoned, required the sanction of the cabinet and the chief minister; and with the assembly election round the corner, the instruction carried little or no weight.

Only time will tell whether the next government in the state will go along with the idea and will be as enthusiastic as the CS. It, therefore, made little sense to carry the instruction more prominently.

But then P.P. Sharma too would have known as much. If he still decided to not only issue the instruction but also ensure that the report reached the media, it only indicates that he wanted to make a point and also place the point on record.

If the government later decides to withdraw the decision, or if the deputy commissioners lobby against it as impractical, P.P. Sharma is unlikely to lose his sleep; because he has made his point.

British administrators had made it a point to ensure that district officials venture into villages at regular intervals.

Not just the collector sahib but also the district judge and the Police Superintendent. They obviously did not move together but held their separate courts, interacted with people, identified potential trouble-spots and took copious notes which they painstakingly recorded for their successors. This ensured continuity and also reduced the chances of the administration getting caught with its pants down.

Even the daroga ji was expected to go on a tour on his bicycle. He would stop at villages and chowk, have his paan and wait to be fed while people gossiped and told him of land disputes and the new village rogue making life miserable for the women.

In short, he would get an opportunity to know people, develop his network of contacts and informers and would also learn to distinguish between the good, the bad and the influential elements in the countryside. People did not have to travel to the police station and wait for the daroga ji to turn his attention to them; it was the daroga ji who turned up at their doorstep.

Once again, the daroga would be expected to take down notes , maintain his tour diary ?so that his successor had to just read the diary to know the criminals and the layout of the land.

This writer actually remembers the then commissioner of south chotanagpur, N.D.J. Rao, cycling down the Kanke Road on Sundays. He lived in the bungalow which has now been converted to an ?uglier? residence of the chief minister. Rao would cycle down to meet Dr. and Mrs. Davis near the Kanke Block office, often stopping to meet other people, have a cup of coffee and chat with people.

But now, even deputy commissioners live like laat sahibs and have surrounded themselves with different layers of security. They have become inaccessible to the people and if at all they are seen, they are seen in clubs with the elite.

There is considerable merit in what the CS has proposed. It is only when officials drive down village roads, live without electricity, hear the horror stories , see for themselves what the engineers and contractors have done?that they will begin to relate to people.

The NDA government in the state has tried in vain to persuade deputy commissioners to hold regular ?janata durbars? but the next government must make it mandatory for all officials to spend at least five days every month in any one village.

Let them tour the surrounding area during the day; but let them also return to this one village at night. Give them security by all means. But make them do the work they are paid for.