In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met the secretaries of all the government departments collectively and asked them to directly get in touch with him to resolve issues and expedite decision-making. Modi held a three-hour-long marathon meeting here with them with an intent of giving the bureaucracy a greater role in decision-making with thrust on transparency and speedy and effective governance.

To ensure that implementation of decisions and programmes are not stuck in 'red-tape', he asked secretaries to call him or email him directly for suggestions or intervention required in resolving issues or expeding decisions, sources said.

During the meeting, first by a Prime Minister directly with all the secretaries without ministers, Modi made initial remarks and then asked secretaries to raise issues. About 25 secretaries spoke on the sectoral issues under their responsibility.

"Discussions focussed more on making governance more effective," a source said. In all, 77 top bureaucrats, including Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram, Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Defence Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, were called for the meeting.

Sources said 16 groups were formed by clubbing related ministries. All finance ministry departments were grouped together, while secretaries of energy-related departments — power, coal, oil, mines and atomic energy were put together.