Patna: District magistrates (DMs) and superintendents of police (SPs) have been asked to function from their official chambers and not residential offices during office hours.

Also, they have been asked to be in the field twice a week - Wednesdays and Thursdays - and dedicate Fridays for meeting common people to listen to their grievances.

Sharing details with The Telegraph, chief secretary Deepak Kumar said: "The state government stands for making the administration more responsive to the people. When senior officials function from their residential offices, people hesitate visiting them. Hence this directive has been issued."

As things stood earlier, it had been found that many of these officials used to work from their residential offices even during office hours making them virtually inaccessible for the common people.

The decision has raised eyebrows among bureaucrats. A DM posted in one of the south Bihar districts said: "The move is well-intended but flexibility of working from the residential office during the office hours allows an official to make best utilisation of time."

The DM, who spoke under cover of anonymity, said his own functioning had not been affected as he used to work from his official chamber.

Also, DMs and SPs have been asked to make field visits on Wednesdays and Thursdays and focus on habitations of weaker sections.

"This has been done keeping the village structure in mind as the weaker sections generally reside at the far end of the village. When officials visit their habitation, they would automatically cover the entire village which would help them get first hand information about the status of various schemes being implemented by the state government," a senior official said, explaining the rationale behind the directive.

In addition to the field visits, the officials have been directed to dedicate Fridays for meeting the people in their offices.

Praising the directive regarding field visits, a DM from a north Bihar district said: "It has definitely helped me in getting a better feel about the way things are happening on the ground. However, the government should not fix the days and instead allow the field officials to decide the days themselves so that they could get some space for prioritising their works."

Those monitoring these field visits in the state headquarters, however, are not willing to make such changes.

"The days have been fixed for better monitoring of this step. We know that on the given days of the week, officials are supposed to be in the field and it helps us in keeping tabs on whether the directive is being followed or not," said an official who is engaged in monitoring of this step.