Patna, March 28: Chief minister Nitish Kumar, stepping up his campaign for good governance, today came down hard on the officials for falling below expectations on the skill development mission.

He expressed dissatisfaction over the prolonged delay in the bidding process in government schemes and projects, a common issue of red tape in Bihar. The chief minister made it clear to the officers that excuses should be replaced with results in the six months he had to prove himself on his agenda of good governance and development.

Today, he lambasted senior officials in the labour resource department for delaying the selection of a consultant to expedite the Bihar Skill Development Mission for the past three years. Sources claimed that the department started the bidding process for selecting the consultant in 2013 but it got stuck in several bottlenecks.

' Padadhikariyon ko file mein sirf lambe note likh dene se kam nahi chalega (officers writing long notes in the government files would not do the work)' Nitish said at the skill development summit organised by the labour resource department at a city hotel.

'We had set the target of imparting skill development training to 1 crore youths in five years from 2013 for which an expert consultant was also needed. However, the consultant has not been appointed till date,' said Nitish.

Criticising the officers for giving excuses, Nitish said: 'Every time, I enquire about the status in the consultant selection process, the officers give me different explanations. I would like to tell the officers that we only have six months before the election and if they have to act, then they should do it now.'

Making an appeal to fast-track the work culture, Nitish said: 'Most of you have chosen your respective field as per your choice as I chose public service for me. Bihar is a place, where a work which normally requires 24 hours should be completed in 12 hours, to expedite development of the state. Skill development should not be confined only to seminars and summits but the ground-level execution should also be ensured.'

Nitish's speech was heard by a number of senior IAS officers present at the summit, including labour resource secretary S. Siddhartha, development commissioner S.K. Negi, agriculture production commissioner Vijoy Prakash, principal industries secretary Tripurari Sharan and principal secretary to chief minister D.S. Gangwar among others.

Siddhartha claimed that in spite of the selection of the consultant for skill development mission, 60 per cent of the respective total physical target has been achieved till date.