Days after policy submission period, officers get order
* Vital task assigned to those engaged in COVID mgmt
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 8: In an era of Information Technology (IT), an order from the Civil Secretariat, the seat of the Government, takes more than two weeks to reach the desks of the Heads of the Departments for handling a task, which pertains to the planned and holistic development of the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover, several those officers have been involved in the vital task who otherwise by the orders of the Government itself are on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) management duties in both the capital cities.
The Principal Secretary to the Government, Housing and Urban Development Department vide Government Order No.145-JK(HUD) of 2020 dated May 20, 2020 accorded sanction to the constitution of a committee for formulation of Real Estate Policy-2020 and Building By-Laws to be implemented in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The heads of the Srinagar Development Authority, Jammu Development Authority, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board, Urban Local Bodies Kashmir and Jammu, Director Finance of the Housing and Urban Development Department and Chief Town Planners of Kashmir and Jammu were assigned this task with the direction to submit the Policy as well as Building By-Laws within a period of 15 days positively.
However, startling facts came to the fore when EXCELSIOR approached several members of the committee to ascertain the progress made in the formulation of the Real Estate Policy and Building By-Laws.
Some members while admitting that a Real Estate Policy is being formulated for whole of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir said, “we have received the Government order regarding constitution of committee day before yesterday only and hopefully we will start working as the assigned task shortly”.
When their attention was drawn towards the fact that committee had to submit the Policy and Building By-Laws within 15 days positively from May 20 onwards, they said, “we are not at fault…..what can we do when we receive the order late”.
What to talk of those officers who are posted in Srinagar even the ones holding offices in Jammu have received the orders days after the time-frame fixed for the completion of vital task. Moreover, they admitted that no formal meeting of the committee has been convened till date although the same was imperative especially to decide the course of action.
Only two officers of the committee, when contacted, admitted that they received the order well in time and claimed that significant progress on the subject will be made within next few days.
All this indicates that in an era of Information Technology, an order from the Civil Secretariat, the seat of the Government, takes about two weeks to reach the desks of the officers for handling an important assignment. “It seems that there was slackness on the part of the officer(s) of the Housing and Urban Development Department, who were supposed to ensure furnishing of order to the members of the committee on the day of its formulation”, sources said.
Moreover, during the interaction with several committee members it came to the fore that they are deeply involved in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Srinagar as such it was not possible for them to focus on formulation of Real Estate Policy and Building By-Laws even if they had received the order well in time.
“Since all the orders pertaining to deployment of officers for the management of Coronavirus are issued by the General Administration Department, the Housing and Urban Development Department either should have made request for relieving such officers of these duties or assigned the task to other officers having experience in the relevant field”, sources further said.
Because of all these reasons, one more Government committee has failed to accomplish the assigned task within the specified period, sources said, and adding “it has become a routine in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that committees constituted to handle different aspects never submit report in time thus defeating the objective of mentioning urgency in the orders”.
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