SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, on Monday, in the presence of Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, and other officers, kick-started the week-long ‘Bhrashtachar Mukt J&K‘ campaign here across all the districts of the UT. Outstation-based officers participated through video conferencing.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mehta observed that the UT of J&K has made remarkable progress in ensuring transparency and accountability, and there is a need to institutionalise it so that it becomes intrinsic to the system.
Dr Mehta maintained that the initiatives taken during the recent past have reinforced the trust of people in governance. He recalled that unlike the present system, there was earlier a system of awarding contracts without going through the tendering process or appointing people without following due recruitment procedures.
Implementation of measures like BEAMS, e-tendering, seeking Administrative Approval, and Technical Sanction have resulted in establishing financial discipline, which has led to a phenomenal increase in the number of projects being completed, from merely 9,000 projects during 2018-19 to 92,000 during 2022-23 with nearly the same expenditure.
Chief Secretary remarked that IT interventions have brought about more transparency, where all details of projects and services are being made public. Through RTI and the Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), citizens who seek their rights have been empowered, as guaranteed under the law. The accessibility of people to project their grievances before senior functionaries and their timely resolution have been greatly facilitated through IGRAMS and JKGRAMS portals.
Mehta complimented ‘Team J&K’ for their efforts in taking J&K to the top-performing States/UTs in the country. While directing all the Prabhari Officers to visit their concerned panchayat at least once during this week, the Chief Secretary asked the Incharge Secretaries of the districts to intensively monitor the activities carried out under the Bhrashtachar Mukt J&K campaign in their concerned districts. Dr Mehta further advised the Deputy Commissioners to fully involve all representatives of Urban and Rural Local Bodies in this intensive campaign against corruption.
Earlier, Commissioner Secretary, GAD, Sanjeev Verma gave an overview of the activities planned during the week as well as the improvement in the overall working of the Government, which has been made possible through a slew of measures taken in the recent past. He informed that the week is going to provide an open platform to the citizens for a two-way exchange of ideas with the administrative machinery. He revealed that thousands of camps are going to be held across the districts of the UT right from Panchayat, Block, Sub-Division to District level.
On the occasion, several Administrative Secretaries, Divisional and District administrations gave their inputs about making this program successful. The Deputy Commissioners provided details of the activities planned for the upcoming days of the week. They informed that counters/help desks have been established for departments like Revenue, Housing, PDD, PWD, Jal Shakti, Social Welfare, etc., for receiving public grievances and their instant resolution.
It was further revealed that activities like debates, discussions, painting competitions, etc., are also planned to create awareness among College and school children about the menace of corruption and its possible remedies available to the public. More than 14,000 events are going to be organised across all the districts of the UT with events at Panchayats, Patwar Khanas, Urban Local Bodies, Tehsils, and Districts in which the general public is participating in large numbers.
Later on, the Chief Secretary also visited Lal Chowk to participate in the function being organised by the Srinagar Smart City on the theme ‘Digital J&K, Digital Srinagar.’ The day-long festival is part of Digital Week (1st to 6th September 2023), focused on digital initiatives of the government in general and SSCL / SMC in particular. Seminars, demos, exhibitions were organized during the day to apprise the public/students from schools and colleges in the city. Stalls have been set up by Smart City, SMC, and District Administration to showcase the different digital initiatives.
Those who accompanied him on the occasion included Principal Secretary, H&UDD; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar; CEO, Srinagar Smart City Limited, and many others. (KNO)
