*Mechanism put in place for fortnightly review of disposals
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 24: Observing that grievances being sent from the J&K Government Grievance Cell to various departments are not receiving the desired attention, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat has directed all the Administrative Secretaries to designate Nodal Officers, who would be responsible for disposal of such grievances. Moreover, a mechanism has been put in place for fortnightly review of the disposals of grievances in order to make the officers/officials accountable.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that J&K Government Grievance Cell also known as “Awaz-e-Awam” has become a major platform for the people to get their grievances redressed as generally grievances don’t attract priority attention of the authorities concerned when brought to their notice through normal course.
This can be gauged from the fact that over 56,000 grievances have been brought to the notice of the Government through an e-governance initiative called J&K Government Grievance Cell. Of these 56,000 grievances, majority pertain to the previous National Conference-Congress regime, which were taken up by the present Government for disposal keeping in view the public interest involved in the same.
The grievances pertain to poor condition of public infrastructure like unattended sinkholes/potholes on the roads; corrupt practices of public servants; disparities in relief disbursal to the natural calamity hit people; lack of action from the public utilities departments towards the complaints referred to officers of such departments through normal course; disgusting traffic police system; lack of sanitation due to inaction on the part of Municipal authorities; delay in providing public services sought under the much-hyped Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA); scarcity of drinking water; grabbing of State land by mafia in connivance with the Police and Revenue officers in different parts of the State etc.
From the nature of complaints, it can be easily presumed that several departments have not been taking interest in resolving even the petty public issues thereby compelling the common masses to knock the doors of the Government through its online Grievance Cell with the hope that the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, which is monitoring the grievances received through dedicated cell, would provide them justice and make the officers of the concerned departments accountable, sources said.
However, when the disposal of complaints received through J&K Government Grievance Cell was reviewed on the directions of the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed recently, it came to fore that even grievances received through dedicated cell are not receiving the desired attention in many departments, sources informed.
Taking serious note of this, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has got Public Grievance Redressal System revamped to make it more effective and accountable. Moreover, in order to make the process of monitoring more effective, technological intervention has also been made in a big way, sources disclosed, adding “the Chief Minister’s Secretariat has felt it imperative for the departments to designate Nodal Officers, who would be responsible for disposal of the grievances received from the J&K Government Grievance Cell”.
On the directions of the Chief Minister, the General Administration Department issued a Circular No.27-GAD of 2015 dated August 17, 2015 informing entire bureaucracy right from the Financial Commissioner to the bottom about the latest instructions from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat about disposal of complaints being forwarded through Government Grievance Cell.
Notwithstanding the fact that such instructions were required to be put in public domain so that they (public) could analyze implementation of the same by the officers concerned, the General Administration Department didn’t put the same on its website for unknown reasons.
As per the circular, the copy of which, however, has been managed by EXCELSIOR, “a system is being put in place whereby the Nodal Officers of all the departments will be sending a fortnightly report to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. These reports in-turn will be reviewed in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on a monthly basis to ensure effective functioning of this new system”.
“It has been observed that the grievances being sent from the J&K Government Grievance Cell to various officers are not receiving the desired attention. The authorities have taken a very serious note of the lack of seriousness towards issues concerning the general public forwarded by the J&K Government Grievance Cell to the concerned departments”, the circular said.
According to the circular, the Nodal Officers, designated by the departments, will be responsible to ensure that the grievances received are processed, examined and wherever possible, redressed in a time-bound manner and the concerned applicant is also informed with information to the J&K Government Grievance Cell. Through the circular, all the Administrative Secretaries have been asked to upload the details of the Nodal Officers nominated by each department on the web portal of the J&K Government Grievance Cell.
Sources informed that on the instructions of the Chief Minister, first review would be held in the coming days so as to ascertain whether Nodal Officers have started acting strictly as per the instructions from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
“The timely disposal of grievances would not only provide sigh of relief to the complaints but also make the concerned officers and officials accountable, which as per the statements of the Mufti-led Coalition Government, is the foremost agenda of the present dispensation”, sources said.
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