Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 28: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today took stock of the preparations for the upcoming ‘Vigilance Awareness Week’ to be celebrated nationally from October 31st in presence of Administrative Secretaries and Deputy Commissioners.
Outstation based officers participated through video conferencing.
On the occasion Dr Mehta maintained that the initiatives taken during the past couple of years have ensured transparency and accountability in the system. He continued that the same has reinforced the trust of people in the governance.
He reiterated that the LG Administration is fully committed to provide corruption free governance system to its citizens and would leave no stone unturned in this pursuit. He recalled that during the current dispensation concerted efforts were made to transfer the power in the hands of common people from official corridors.
He recalled that the implementation of measures like BEAMS, e-tendering, mandatory Administrative Approval and Technical Sanction have resulted in establishing financial discipline which has resulted in phenomenal increase in the number of projects being completed here. He called it an eye opener that from merely 9,229 projects during 2018-19 to over 92,560 during 2022-23 with nearly same expenditure.
The Chief Secretary remarked that IT interventions have brought about immense transparency where all details of projects and services are being put in public domain. Through RTI and Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), citizens who seek their rights, have been empowered, as guaranteed under law. The accessibility of people to project their grievances before senior functionaries and their timely disposals have been greatly facilitated through IGRAMS and JKGRAMS portals.
The Chief Secretary asked the Incharge Secretaries of the districts to intensively monitor the activities carried out under the Vigilance Awareness Week and sensitize the public about its importance during the public darbars they would hold in their concerned districts. He asked them to encourage the public to avail all the services right from their homes using digital platforms or DigiDost facility for removing the chances of corruption.
He directed that the week long events should be divided into thematic areas involving different social groups. He asked for giving opportunity to each of the strata in the social mileau to get heard and inform them about the measures taken against corruption. He advised to dedicate the first day of the week to the guidelines issued by the CVC under ‘Say No to Corruption; Commit to the Nation’ theme. He then told to dedicate other days to common citizens, well-meaning social activists, students, NGOs, Welfare organisations and others for taking their suggestions and their role for weeding out corruption from J&K.
Dr. Mehta further advised the Deputy Commissioners to fully involve all representatives of Urban and Rural Local Bodies in this intensive campaign against corruption. He asked them to ensure that at the end of the week no complaint received till date should remain unattended and should be resolved upto the full satisfaction of the citizen complainant.
Earlier, Commissioner/ Secretary, GAD, Sanjeev Verma gave an overview of the activities planned during this week from 30th October to 5th of November, 2023. He informed about the activities and guidelines issued by the Central Vigilance Commission regarding this week. He made out that all employees are going to take the integrity pledges during this week besides highlighting the importance of Public Interest Disclosure & Protection of Informer Resolution, 2004 (PIDPI).
He revealed that thousands of camps are going to be held across the districts of the UT right from Panchayat level to raise awareness among the citizens to fight and root out this menace from the UT.
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