Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has held her first formal meeting with the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs of Kashmir Division at SKICC after assuming the charge of the office. In her elaborate address to the top officials of district administration, she dealt with a variety of subjects of administrative importance and priority for her Government. DCs and SSPs are the focal source for two important functions, namely development of the district and maintenance of law and order in the district. This justifies the Chief Minister holding the two top district functionaries responsible for enforcing good governance. The parameters within which two top district functionaries have to perform are scripted in what is called Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs). Highlighting the role of the DCs and SSPs, the CM said that they are eyes, ears and hands of the Government and as such have to be responsible for delivery.
Emphasizing the role of SSPs for maintaining law and order in the district, the CM said that a situation of crowd management had arisen in the State in the wake of disturbed situation. The law enforcing agencies had to look for innovative methods of handling mobs with minimum use of force. Human lives are precious and more than the law, common sense and human approach need to be applied when dealing with the masses of people. She asked the police chief to come out with practical suggestions about improving the mechanism of mass handling and also handling the angered youth. The CM believes that administration has to adopt changed methodology based on understanding the problems of the people and trying to mitigate them to the best of the ability of the administrative structure. Reminding the District authorities that they are the real instruments of change, she obviously meant that her Government would like that the powers given to the district nodal authorities should be exercised precisely and effectively and that the Government would welcome such option for administering the districts. In fact, the spirit of democratic dispensation also stipulates that institutions of the Government should be given the freedom of functioning smoothly within the parameters of law. The Government does not intend to curtail the powers of district authorities.
The CM has reminded the district authorities that the effective and productive method of bringing relief and comfort to the people in the districts and especially in remote areas is to reach them, interact with them and listen to them. Personal rapport with the people will do away with the intermediaries and the administration will be directly in know of what is happening on the ground. For this purpose, she advised the DCs and SSPs to have scheduled public meetings at various levels and gain personal knowledge of the people and their problems. She even fixed days and timing of public meetings of District officers. A merit of this mechanism would be that the people living in far off and remote areas of the state will not have the compulsion of coming all the way to the capital city of Jammu or Srinagar for finding redress of their grievances.
Exhorting the SSPs to deal with crimes and criminals effectively, the CM laid stress on the law enforcing agency of ensuring the safety and security of women in particular. The law enforcing agency has a huge task of protecting the youth against drug addiction because of late drug mafia in the country and the state have become very active. Controlling the trafficking in narcotics is a national agenda and unfortunately our state has also become one of the routes for drug pedaling which has to be stopped.
CM address to the DCs and SSPs is virtually announcement of major policy directives of her Government which takes into fold a variety of subjects. It indicates the determination of the CM to activate the law and administrative system in the larger interests of the State. By directly reaching the district administrative structure, the CM has done the right thing. It does not mean reducing the administrative reach of the bureaucracy; it actually means giving due importance to the division of work theory aiming at streamlining administration and solving the problems of the people. We are hopeful that there will be movement in the right direction in all districts in accordance with the policy enunciated by the CM that her Government is going to pursue. The most encouraging thing is that she has publicly said that she would personally visit the districts and ensure that administration is delivering.
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