Srinagar, Sept 04: Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta has said that 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.
He said this in presence of Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioner and other officers and 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.
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 giving contracts without going for tendering process or appointing people without going for due recruitment process.
Implementation of measures like BEAMS, e-tendering, seeking of Administrative Approval and Technical Sanction have resulted in establishing financial discipline which has resulted in 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 same expenditure. The Chief Secretary remarked that IT interventions have brought about more transparency where all details of projects and services are being put in public domain. Through RTI and Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), citizens who seek their rights, have been empowered, as guaranteed under law. The accessibility of people to project their grievances before senior functionaries and their timely disposals have been greatly facilitated through IGRAMS and JKGRAMS portals. The Chief Secretary complimented ‘Team J&K’ for their untiring efforts for taking J&K to the top performing States/UTs in the Country. While directing all the Prabhari Officers to visit their concerned panchayat atleast 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 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 about the improvement in the overall working of the Government which has been made possible through slew of measures taken in the recent past. He informed that the week is going to provide an open platform to the citizens for 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 administration gave their inputs about making this programme successful. The Deputy Commissioners provided details of the activities planned for the upcoming days of the week. They informed that counters/help deskshave been established for departments like Revenue, Housing, PDD, PWD, Jal Shakti, Social Welfare etc. for receiving the grievances of public and their instant resolution.
It was further revealed that activities like debates, discussions, painting competitions etc are also planned to create awareness among the College and school children about the menace of corruption and its possible remedies available to public. More than 14000 events are going to be organized across all the districts of the UT with events at Panchayats, Patwar Khanas, Urban Local Bodies, Tehsils and Districts in which general public is participating in large numbers.
Later on the Chief Secretary also visited Lalchowk to participate in the function being organized by the Srinagar Smart City on the theme ‘Digital J&K, Digital Srinagar’. The daylong festival is part of Digital Week (1st to 6th September, 2023) focused on digital initiatives of 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 setup 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.
