MUMBAI: A few days after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ’s stringent remarks over the bureaucracy’s poor performance, chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya had a marathon interaction with high-ranking bureaucrats on improving performance.

A senior bureaucrat said Kshatriya expressed concern over Fadnavis’s remarks. “We must improve our performance and all steps should be taken to remove the bad impression in the minds of not only senior cabinet members, but the CM too, about the image of the bureaucracy,’’ Kshatriya told the bureaucrats.

Interacting with some scribes in Nagpur on November 1, on the eve of completing a year in office, Fadnavis had pointed out that owing to the non-cooperation of officials, particularly at the lower level, key schemes were not implemented in letter and spirit. In fact, Fadnavis presented comprehensive data on non-performing officials and action taken by the government against them.

The bureaucrat said prima facie Fadnavis was critical of lower level officials, since all IAS and IPS officers follow his orders. “Not a single order of the CM has been defied either by an IAS or IPS official, but even if the order was issued by the CM, there was huge delay in implementing it due to a different mindset of employees at the lower level,’’ he said.

A senior BJP minister said the CM introduced many schemes for the welfare of the aam admi, but lower level officials were thwarting his efforts. “We introduced the landmark Right to Guarantee of Services Act, but it has failed to take off due to non-cooperation at the lower level,’’ he said.

Even on ease of doing business or reforms in labour laws, results were not visible due to lack of clarity for lower level staff. “Decisions were taken at the level of the CM and CS but they are yet to percolate to the lower level. In the entire process, the government’s image has been adversely affected,’’ he said.