JAMMU : Describing Revenue Department as the fulcrum of good governance, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, Wednesday asked the officers to maintain the highest standards of probity and help in making administration public-oriented, accountable and transparent.
She said Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA) can become a potent tool against scourge of corruption, provided timelines are adhered to by the Revenue Department under whose ambit most of the guarantees fall.
The Chief Minister made these remarks while chairing a high-level meeting to review the functioning of Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Department.
Minister for Revenue, Relief & Rehabilitation, Syed Basharat Ahmad Bukhari, Minister of State for S&T and Transport (IC) & Revenue, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Minister of State for Finance & Planning, IT, CA&PD and Relief & Rehabilitation, Ajay Nanda, Chief Secretary, B. R. Sharma, Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development, B. B. Vyas, FC Revenue, Pramod Jain and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Navin K. Chaudhary attended the meeting.
Asking the administration to become citizen friendly, Mehbooba Mufti highlighted the difficulties faced by countless people in obtaining services which are otherwise specified under PSGA. She made it clear that breach of timelines vis-à-vis services provided will be taken seriously and action initiated against those who procrastinate.
Some of the important services being provided by Revenue Department include issuance of PRCs, Income, Marriage, Dependent and Reserve Category Certificates, revenue documents like Fard Intikhab, extracts of girdwari, massaviand jamabandi, attestation of mutation, demarcation of land and copy of voter list.
On the observation made by the Chief Minister regarding inordinate delay in delivery of most services under PSGA, the Revenue Minister assured the Chief Minister to review the timelines for which necessary amendment would also be brought before the Assembly. He said the department will soon setup a mechanism to fix accountability and pledged to provide most of the services online, once the existing records are scanned and digitized under Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP).
FC Revenue conveyed to the Chief Minister the Centre’s assent to fully fund the prestigious DILRMP on pattern of North East states. The Rs.350 crore DILRMP, he said targets digitization of the entire revenue records by 2020. Presently, five districts, including Jammu and Srinagar, have been taken up under DILRMP, the meeting was informed.
The Chief Minister also obtained to-date status of Jhelum-Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP), which wil be taken up at a cost of Rs.1500 crore. To operationalize the project, which became effective on April 19, proposals have been received from I&C, Health and Mechanical Engineering Department while as PW(R&B) and SMC have been advised to furnish their proposals by April 31, 2016.
JTFRP, which is a credit-line facility from World Bank under External Aided Projects, proposes reconstruction of critical infrastructure, roads & bridges, urban flood management infrastructure, strengthening of livelihoods, disaster risk management capacity and contingency emergency response.
The Revenue Minister also apprised the Chief Minister about the ex gratia paid to victims of 2014 floods whose houses were either fully or partially damaged. While Rs.199.44 crore have been disbursed under SDRF, an amount of Rs.565.69 crore have been given as compensation under PMNRF norms.
Under the Prime Minister’s Development Plan, an amount of Rs. 1194 crore has been released as assistance for damaged houses.
On obtaining present status of rehabilitation package for settlement of 36,384 families of PoK and Chamb DPs, the Chief Minister was informed that the Central government has sought certain clarifications after which Rs.2,000 crore earmarked under PM’s Development Package would be released to the state.
The Chief Minister issued instructions for take up the matter with the concerned Ministry in New Delhi so that the money is advanced and disbursed among the needy families.
Regarding creation of 3,000 supernumerary posts for Kashmiri migrant youth, the Chief Minister was informed that comments of various administrative departments have been sought so that a comprehensive proposal is placed before the Cabinet.
Stressing upon rationalization of new administrative units, the Chief Minister asked the department to devise a mechanism to make these functional, till such time sufficient resources in terms of manpower and infrastructure are made available.
The Revenue Minister informed the Chief Minister that out of the 659 administrative units, 158 are yet to be operationalized. He said for creation of permanent infrastructure in the administrative units, at least Rs.1300 crore will be required.
The Chief Minister tasked Finance Secretary to make a provision of funds for Disaster Management, for which a comprehensive plan has been drawn by TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and approved by SDMA (State Disaster Management Authority).
The Revenue Minister also requested the Chief Minister to place two battalions of SDRF under the administrative control of Divisional Administration, so that real-time response is activated in case of natural and man-made calamities.
The functioning of the Evacuees’ Property Department was also discussed during the meeting.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Hassan Samoon, Commissioner / Secretary, Revenue, Mohammad Afzal Bhat and Custodian General, Mohammad Javaid Khan were also present in the meeting.
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