Riled with non-performance, Yogi Adityanath sacks Lok Kalyan Mitras

LUCKNOW: Upset at the functioning of Lok Kalyan Mitras (LKMs), chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered that all LKMs appointed so far will not continue in service after July 15.


Lok Kalyan Mitras were appointed by the BJP government with much fanfare earlier this year to help in implementation of social welfare schemes across the state.

"The CM had been receiving complaints against them, including the fact that many were not trained properly and none of them were using the LKM application on which they were supposed to have updated details of their work. The agency hired to appoint LKMs also did not perform its job properly. UP Small Industries Corporation will now engage a new agency which will hire fresh recruits," said a senior government official.

The decision to replace more than 400 LKMs has been taken ahead of upcoming bylections on 12 assembly seats. The move to appoint 822 LKMs across all blocks was taken by the state cabinet in August 2018 and met with fierce criticism by the Opposition which said that not only was government machinery already in place to monitor implementation of government schemes for which the LKMs were being hired but also alleged that the government would appoint people close to BJP. The appointment carried a monthly remuneration of Rs 25,000 and was to have been for a year, subject to review by the CM.

The government had claimed that because of the immense work of implementing more than 100 schemes of the Centre and state, district and block level officials were under lot of pressure and LKMs would have helped in streamlining the work. They had been tasked with visiting beneficiaries in their respective areas to review how schemes were being implemented and connect a larger number of people with these schemes.

"The agency started recruitments late and had appointed just a little over 400 LKMs. Because of the complaints with their work, no payment has been released to them for the three months of their appointment so far. We are now looking to overhaul the system and see how many of the LKMs will be paid, depending on the quality of work they have put in," said the official.