During his speech at the concluding session of the BJP state executive committee meeting at Mohakheda in Dhar district on April 22, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came down heavily on the ministers who gave the meeting a skip.

Chouhan said that the ministers who did not attend the meeting without prior information should resign from the executive body. “Bid goodbye to ministers who did not come”, he said, turning to the state party chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan.

Chouhan said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi can spend two days at the national executive meeting but our ministers do not have time for party meetings. He said that even the ministers who came, left midway.

Among ministers Gopal Bhargava, Omprakash Dhurve, Vijay Shah, Surendra Patwa, Lalita Yadav and Suryaprakash Meena were absent from the meeting. Jayant Mallaiya, Bhupendra Singh and Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya had informed the organisation that they won’t be attending the meeting.

Some ministers left Dhar after attending the first day’s proceedings. Sources said that organisational general secretary Suhas Bhagat had complained to the chief minister about the absence of the ministers after which his anger burst into open.

Prior to his outburst against his senior party colleagues, he also pulled up senior civil servant over their style of functioning and also their manner of behaviour with common men and in particular with people's representative.

Civil servants should come out from colonial mindset. The civil services were established by the British government for their own benefits; now the services had been turned into public welfare services, said CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan while addressing officers at a Civil Service Day event on April 20.

He said civil servants think they were permanent and the elected government stayed for just five years, but it was democracy and rule was ‘of the people, for the people and by the people’.

He said civil servants had decided to serve; nobody had forced them to join unless they had decided to serve society. For earning money, there are private companies. Chouhan raised several questions on the working of the officers and departments, asking them to think ‘out of the box’. He criticised the working of some of the officials and on the other hand also appreciated the committed officers.

He also raised that some officers and departments did not have concern to review the programmes. “The officer issues the letter and sends the information that the recommendations are implemented, but in real case the benefits do not reach the beneficiaries,” the CM complained.

He asked the departments to work in coordination, not as two enemy countries because all the work was done for the benefit of 7.50 crore people of the state. He asked the civil servants to take humanitarian decisions, not use bookish knowledge.

Many interpretations are being given to the outbursts against ruling party leaders and civil servants. Considerable significance is being attached to chief minister's angry reactions. Sources close to the Chief Minister pointed out that it has been observed that ministers generally ignore chief minister's directions. They rarely visit district of their charge, they do not speed time in rural areas despite CM's advice, follow up action regarding policy decisions is also rare. The same is the state of affairs with civil servants. As it is Madhya Pradesh will go to polls next year. It appears that chief minister is keen that several pro-people decisions should be implemented properly. But this can be done only when minister and civil servants work hard and take their assignments sincerely.

While chief minister's angry reactions shook the political and administration circles two gruesome accidents have left many questions unanswered. One such accident took place in Indore.

Seven persons were killed and an eighth is fighting for life with critical burns after an explosion in a cracker godown triggered a blaze in a cramped lane of Ranipura area on April 18. Two children, who had come with their father to by shoes, are missing.

Two men were killed on the spot and sixth were taken to hospital with grade-IV burns, where even bones get damaged. Five of them died before midnight. The blast took place at 2.30pm in Dilip Phataka House, which runs on the ground floor of a three-storied building. It ignited a fire, and burning crackers shot out like missiles all around. Some landed in the opposite lane, which housed shops selling footwear and polythene bags.

This started a second blaze that spread rapidly across shops and gripped nearly the entire lane. 'The blast was so powerful that one person from the cracker shop was thrown outside. He sustained critical burns and presumably died in hospital,' said Gopal Yadav, a tailor and eyewitness. A quick fight back by shopkeepers and residents, and the recent innovation of firemen on motorcycles prevented a bigger disaster.

In another accident thirteen people, including five women, were burnt alive and four critically injured after a barrel of kerosene exploded in a cramped ration shop in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh on April 21 evening.

Villagers claim the death toll is 18. Firemen are literally raking through the pile of burnt out debris to check for bodies. First responders reported bodies burnt to a cinder, some hurled outside the shop. This comes just two days after a massive explosion in a firecracker shop killing seven people in Indore. The Prime Minister's office offered condolences, tweeting: 'I pray that those who are injured due to the fire in Chhindwara recover quickly. State government is closely monitoring the situation.' Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announce compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of those killed. I pray to the almighty to grant peace to those who lost life and with speedy recovery for the injured...this incident is painful and disconcerting,' tweeted Chouhan.

April 21 blast took place in Bargi village, around 82km from the district headquarters and 300km southeast of Bhopal. More than 50 people from nine villages had queued up at Bargi's fair price shop to collect kerosene and other food items. Even in late afternoon, it was unbearably hot and there people squeezed into the shop to get out of the sun. Around 4.55pm, an explosion tore through the crowd, killing 10 of them instantly. The blast was so powerful that it flung many of those waiting outside off their feet.

The doorway was instantly engulfed in flames, cutting off the only escape route. The impact of the blast and the fire brought down walls on three sides but no one could get out because the entire room turned into a fireball, say witnesses. The blasts have become common in Madhya Pradesh these days. (IPA Service)