Vigilance Awareness Week: Chief Secretary holds interaction with RTI, Social Activists

Srinagar, Nov 4: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Saturday holds an interactive session with the Right to Information Act(RTI)/Social activists here in the morning at Banquet Hall, Srinagar and later in the afternoon at Convention Center, Jammu as part of the ongoing Vigilance Awareness Week.
Besides Commissioner Secretary, GAD senior civil and police functionaries from Divisional & District Administrations were present at both the venues. These included Divisional Commissioner Kashmir/Jammu; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar/Jammu; SSP Srinagar/Jammu; Commissioner JMC/SMC; several HoDs and other Sectoral Officers of the concerned districts.
The RTI Activists from different parts of the Kashmir and Jammu divisions participated in these interactions and made various suggestions for further enhancing transparency, accountability and speedy delivery of public services in a corruption free environment.
On the occasion, the Chief Secretary stressed on the RTI activists to extend their constructive support to the administration in weeding out undesirable elements which misuse processes for private benefits. He asked them to channelise their energies to ensure percolation of due benefits to the deserving people. He called on them to work with positive mindset in a collaborative spirit.
Dr Mehta maintained that the Government has adopted a zero tolerance towards corruption and has worked on the principle of increasing citizen participation in governance, with more accountability and transparency in government business.
The Chief Secretary underscored that the technological interventions made during the past couple of years like digitization of all the services, BEAMS, DBT, PROOF, PAY-SYS, e-tendering, mandatory Administrative Approval and Technical Sanction of projects are key steps taken by the Administration in ensuring accountability and transparency in the governance system. He continued that the administration has no intention to shield any one with malafide intent and has taken various steps to enable people to participate in Governance.
He said since the introduction of digital governance system in the UT, filing of RTI applications by people has seen a sharp dip as all information about government schemes, development works, their implementation and execution is available in public domain. He encouraged all of them to often visit the Janbhagadari portal for so as to keep people informed of works under implementation in their areas.
The Chief Secretary also made a mention of PSGA bolstered by the feedback mechanisms of Auto-appeal and RAS which has increased the efficiency of service delivery to public substantially. He revealed that the delivery of services hovers at around 80% within laid down time lines and more than 86% applicants have given the positive feedback regarding this services availed by them.
He added that the effective implementation of the e-office system has greatly reduced the administrative inertia with performance of each user under scanner. He said that the people earlier had no option but to visit government offices for getting their files moving from one desk to another. He made out that the situation has changed now with access to government offices being available through mobiles and introduction of applications like Mobile Dost, Meri Pehchaan and e-Unnat.
With regard to the burning societal issue of drug menace, the Chief Secretary said that the government is committed to make the UT ‘NashaMukht’. He stated that it is evident that the legal action against the drug trade has been greatly enhanced with increased focus of police and civil administration. He observed that we all have to be empathetic towards the victims of this menace and it is our duty to bring culprits to book as the drug peddlers are worst enemies of any civilized society.
He maintained that hundreds of FIRs had been registered during this year against the persons involved in this illicit trade. He enumerated measures taken by government like establishment De-addiction centers in every district, enhanced vigil on drug stores and creating of awareness among students in schools and colleges. He urged these Social Activists to play their role and cooperate with the Administration in total eradication of this menace from J&K.