CUK employees take integrity pledge

Ganderbal, Nov 04: The employees of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) Friday took an “Integrity Pledge” at varsity’s Green Campus to make “Society Corruption Free.”
The pledge was administered by the Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar in the presence of Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah, Chief Vigilance Officer, Prof. Wali Muhammad Shah, Finance Officer, Dr. Mehraj ud Din Shah, senior administrative officers, faculty members and other employees. The pledge was part of the series of events organized by the university’s Department of Students Welfare (DSW) in collaboration with the Department of Political Science to mark the observance of Vigilance Awareness Week.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah said the pledge is aimed to back the commitment of officials towards bringing about integrity and transparency in all spheres of their activities and to fight corruption with vigour. He said corruption is impacting the growth, development and progress of the nation and needs to be eradicated completely.
Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar said, the awareness on vigilance should be spread, resulting in encouragement to others to follow in the same positive direction. “The rampant corruption has made it necessary for a change in the mind-set of all citizens in order to eradicate corruption. People therefore need to stop turning a blind eye to corruption and put their pledges to practice,” he said. He asked the employees and the youth to consider it their duty and moral obligation to challenge corruption, as the future belonged to the youth.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Vigilance Officer, Prof. Wali Muhammad Shah said, it is our duty as citizens and stakeholders to fight against corruption. He dwelt on the role of the Central Vigilance Commission and its multi-pronged approach in the fight against corruption.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Prosecuting Officer, Mr. Aijaz Ahmad Wani, said the people fail to understand that it is their responsibility and not somebody else’s to look after the well-being of the society. “This is one of the prime reasons for unsatisfactory performance in the corruption index of Jammu and Kashmir”, he added. He stressed that the vigilance awareness programme was a clarion call to the citizens to reiterate their commitment and conviction to the nation and themselves for achieving the goals of honesty, transparency and accountability.
Finance Officer, and Dean DSW, Dr. Mehraj ud Din Shah, said the Vigilance Awareness is for sensitization at different levels where corruption corrodes society. “There are three broad issues related to corruption: bribery, extortion and nepotism or favoritism.” Our task as citizens, he said, is to understand the concept of corruption, the factors that promote it, and then come up with new policies and strategies to combat it, he added.
Dy DSW Green Campus, Dr. Faizan Ashraf Mir conducted the programme proceedings while as Dy DSW, Tulmulla Campus, Dr. Asif Khan proposed the vote of thanks.