Newly sworn-in Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has on Monday issued an order directing all the government officers to report to their offices by 9 am every day. His order, which has come hours after swearing-in as the Chief Minister, was his bid to ensure that the officers upheld punctuality to their duties.

According to reports, his order applies to the state level, district level, and block-level employees and the Chief Minister further directed them to remain available till the office hours in the evening. Besides stressing the need to bring transparency in the government offices, the Chief Minister had also instructed the government officers and employees to deal with all the grievances reported by people on a priority basis. 

The Chief Minister had directed the administrative secretaries/ department heads to conduct surprise checks twice a week to keep a vigil on the employees working under them to ensure the availability of all the government officers/employees in the offices during official hours. Channi has further asked the secretaries and heads to keep a close watch on the activities/records at their offices concerned. 

On Monday, Charanjit Singh Channi had sworn in as the 16th Chief Minister of Punjab and he also had become the first Dalit Chief Minister of the state. His elevation has come a day after the then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had resigned from the post after an apparent political turmoil in the state. Singh had tendered his resignation as the Chief Minister on Saturday and slammed the Congress high command for humiliating him.

The change of guard in Punjab had come when the state is just five months ahead of the assembly polls. On Sunday, a day after the resignation of Amarinder Singh, the Congress party had taken everyone into surprise by playing a Dalit card for the first time in the state after appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as the next Chief Minister of Punjab. Another surprising move from the party was that the state will have two Deputy Chief Ministers and all of these names weren't on the list of probables. 

Channi was unanimously elected as the leader of the Congress legislative party in Punjab on Sunday. All India Congress Committee General Secretary Harish Rawat said in a tweet on Sunday, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Charanjit Singh Channi has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab."