4Step aimed at making Admn Secys, HoDs accountable
*Thrust again laid on conducting mandatory field visits
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 7: In order to make the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments accountable, the Government has sought Action Taken Reports (ATRs) on the grievances referred to them for redressal by the Raj Bhawan as well as the office of the Chief Secretary. Moreover, they have been clearly told to make this a routine exercise from now onwards so that good governance is ensured to the common masses.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that for timely redressal of public grievances, which is considered as hallmark of the good governance, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has initiated a number of steps.
The foremost step was initiated with the establishment of Jammu and Kashmir Online Grievance Redressal Portal, which provides convenience to the citizens by allowing them to lodge a grievance through their mobile phones or computers. This removes the need for them to appear at any location to file a physical grievance.
Through this portal people of Jammu and Kashmir can also track the status of their grievance as such this initiative saves a large amount of time and effort. Similarly, grievances are being directly dashed to the office of Chief Secretary where a cell is looking into the same.
Few days back, the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on the directions of the Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu initiated the exercise of conducting public outreach programme by the Administrative Secretaries in both the capital cities.
Now, it has been felt imperative to ascertain the rate of disposal of grievances being received through the Online Grievance Redressal Portal and directly by the office of the Chief Secretary and then referred to the concerned departments so that Administrative Secretaries as well as Heads of the Departments are made accountable, sources said.
They disclosed that Chief Secretary has dashed a communiqué to all the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments asking them to promptly examine the issues received from the Lieutenant Governor’s office and submit a status note on each of these issues highlighting therein the action taken.
“They have been further asked to suggest way forward in a tabular form to the office of the Lieutenant Governor within a copy to the Chief Secretary’s office so that improvements are brought in the system for redressal of grievances is further fast paced”, sources said.
Not only on the grievances formally received from the Raj Bhawan, the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments have also been asked to submit Action Taken Reports in respect of the issues where the Lieutenant Governor’s office has passed verbal directions.
“Even public issues primarily pertaining to health, road, water, electricity, school and civil supplies are being received from various quarters by the office of the Chief Secretary and the same are also being regularly sent to the Administrative Departments for redressal/appropriate action”, sources disclosed.
All the Administrative Secretaries have also been asked to ensure that copy of the Action Taken Report on all such issues is furnished to the office of the Chief Secretary after regular intervals. “From now onwards, submission of Action Taken Reports (ATRs) on the grievances received from the Raj Bhawan and the office of the Chief Secretary will be a routine for the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments”, sources said.
“The Government has categorically told the Administrative Secretaries to undertake field visits as per the instructions laid down in the Circular No.26-GAD of 2019 dated May 8, 2019 to review the important schemes, developmental works and other related matters of their departments and highlight the issues requiring intervention at the Government level”, sources further said.
It is pertinent to mention here that EXCELSIOR in its edition dated January 8, 2020 had exclusively reported that majority of the Administrative Secretaries in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have failed to ensure strict compliance to the repeated verbal and written instructions regarding mandatory field visits on weekly basis to review the progress on developmental works.
The reiteration of direction by the Government has substantiated the revelations made by EXCELSIOR.
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