KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
In her first interaction with the civil and police administration in Kashmir, Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti announced that all Deputy Commissioners will spear three-hours on Tuesday and Thursday exclusively for meeting the people. They will not be called for any meeting on these two days by their superiors and the move is aimed at bridging the gap between the people and the government.
Ms Mufti said she has been emphasizing on three important things which are key to the change she is keen to trigger: good governance, transparency and accountability.
“DCs and SPs will be directly responsible and accountable for the happenings in their areas of responsibility,” Ms Mufti was quoted saying the first meeting that DCs and SSPs attended in the SKICC. “That essentially also means they will be properly backed up for whatever their requirement in their districts to ensure the good governance is visible.”
Ms Mufti spent almost half an hour talking about the public service guarantee act. She praised the NC-Congress government for implementing the law but regretted they did not implement it the way it should have been. She listed departments and the services which the government will deliver on time bound manner, sources said.
Chief Minister said she wants that the dreams her late father had seen for the state should be realized. She identified some of the key projects of her father and enquired the state of status of their implementation from the officers in the meeting.
Ms Mufti said that increased interaction with the masses should ensure that the law and order situations does not take place in which the security set up ends up using force. She emphasized that the collateral damage in the militancy situation would not be accepted.
In fact, she said, if the security set up feels the operation can be successful only if there are civilian causalities, the operations can be delayed or postponed. Life, she said, is important.
Chief Minister sought feedback from DCs and SSPs about the challenges they face in their areas and the special interventions they have made.
SSP Baramulla talked about his interventions in managing the traffic mess in the area. He also talked about the drug de-addiction initiative which police have launched in Baramulla.
DC Baramulla sought some relaxation in the assistance for girl marriages that would help the local administration to help those needy girls who otherwise do not fall in the scheme. Chief Minster said the local administration must identify the beneficiaries by taking the society in concerned areas on board and make no discrimination in its implementation, whatsoever.
DC Kulgam talking about his efforts to get a Chennai based concern in managing the local waste by setting up bio-gas plants. Kulgam and R S Pora are the two areas where the project is being implemented as pilot projects.
DC Islamabad flagged the issue of those flood affected population which have approached the government for help in managing their losses after the time had lapsed – February 2015. In Islamabad district there are as many as 6000 such families who have lost their houses but have not been covered by the earlier survey. They have not even got a single penny and extending relief to them would cost Rs 39 Crore.
Interestingly, the issue of NIT did not figure in this meeting.
