Jamshedpur, Dec. 25: The Union food and civil supplies minister, Subodh Kant Sahay, today came down heavily on the Madhu Koda government for acting like a puppet in the hands of bureaucrats.

Addressing a news conference in the city this afternoon, Sahay said he had no hesitations in admitting that a group of babus have taken the state government for granted.

“I have no hesitation in saying that the government, which is the best on the political front, has failed miserably on the administrative front and has not been able to come out of the grip of bureaucrats,” he said.

Supporting his allegation against the Koda government, which is having the support of his party, Sahay said the hold bureaucrats have on the government was visible from the fact that all the important departments were still under the control of officers who were present during the tenure of the Arjun Munda government.

“Every year, from the time Jharkhand was formed, hundreds of crores of rupees provided by the Union government for projects remain unutilised because of bureaucratic wrangles and undue interference. At present, the amount has accumulated to more than Rs 5,000 crore and are lying in banks instead of being utilised for development works,” said Sahay.

He also demanded that the Koda government initiate a high-level probe into the matter and also called for “strict action” against those officers responsible for “mismanagement of development funds”.

He pointed out that in the last three months it has also become clear that even transfers are being done on the whims of bureaucrats.

“Ministers are not able to perform their work. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the bureaucrats of the state are running a transfer-posting racket to keep control in their hands,” he added.

However, the Union minister was all praises for the “political will” of the Koda government and its willingness to bring about changes in the lives of the deprived classes and those in small and cottage industries.