Prabhari Officers asked to hold deliberations with DCs
Detailed strategy to be finalized at highest level shortly
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 21: Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has directed the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Housing and Urban Development Department to start making preparations for holding 5th round of Back to Village (B2V) Programme and 3rd edition of My Town My Pride.
Moreover, all the Prabhari Officers have been told to start deliberations with concerned officers particularly the Deputy Commissioners before a detailed strategy is this is regard is finalized at the highest level and shared with them.
These would be last rounds of ambitious public outreach programmes during the current term of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as fresh elections are going to be conducted in next few months.
The ‘Back to Village’ programme is aimed to involve the people and Government officials in a joint effort to deliver the mission of equitable development in the rural areas of the Union Territory. Likewise, My Town My Pride focuses on public outreach in towns, service delivery at doorsteps and strengthening grass-root democracy in urban areas.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Chief Secretary of J&K UT Dr Arun Kumar Mehta has directed the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Housing and Urban Development Department to make preparations for holding of fresh rounds of these programmes in consultation with all the concerned agencies.
“The exact dates for both these unique initiatives of the Government will be announced soon after the administration finalizes detailed strategy and suggests key points to Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Housing and Urban Development Department”, sources said, adding “the Chief Secretary has directed the Administrative Secretaries, who are also Prabhari Officers of different districts, to hold consultations in this regard with the Deputy Commissioners so fresh rounds of these initiatives also turn out to be grand success like the earlier rounds”.
The Housing and Urban Development Department has been told to pass detailed instructions to all the Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees) so that issues required to be dealt with during the My Town My Pride are identified well in time, sources further informed.
As part of both these programmes, the Government servants visit each Panchayat or Urban Local Body of the Union Territory, stay there for a specific period to interact and obtain feedback from the grass-roots so as to tailor Government efforts in improving delivery of village and town specific services.
The Phase-I of the Back to Village Programme was launched in the month of June 2019, the Phase-II was conducted in November 2019, Phase-III in the month of October 2020 and Phase-IV in November 2022.
The Phase-I was an introductory and interactive programme to understand the people’s grievances and demands. The Phase-II focused on the devolution of powers to Panchayats and tried to understand how these Panchayats are functioning and what are the grievances and demands while as Phase-III was designed on the format for grievance redressal.
During the Phase-IV the visiting officers were apprised about the commitments made during the previous Back to Village Programmes and works completed during the previous years.
“What would be the approach of 5th Phase of Back to Village will be made public by the Government in the coming days”, sources said, adding “this unique mission has been a catalyst for development and a revolutionary step for people-centric governance and has laid down a strong foundation for the system wherein the top levels of administration and local population work in a spirit of Jan Bhagidari thus empowering the people in true sense”.
All the activities carried out during the first four phases of the Back to Village are available on the dashboard created in this regard by the Government and any citizen can assess the same district-wise with just one click of the mouse from anywhere.
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