Giving practical shape to the decision about periodical review of various development works, Lt Governor Girish Chandra Murmu himself has started district wise reviews of such works . It is a healthy development aimed at fostering administrative responsibilities of concerned officers associated with such works and imbibing in them the spirit of being more people friendly . It also encourages greater mobility in the officials to move about from out of their offices to visit the sites of the projects and take stock of all related developments. When the authority at the top like in the instant case, the Lieutenant Governor declaring that he would be personally visiting tehsil and block levels shortly in this connection, that conveyed enough message that the days of status-quo-ante , inertia and torpidity generally found in offices had gone . The Lt. Governor shall , as such, get a chance to see for himself what action had been taken on issues raised by people during Back to Village Programme as also in respect of public outreach by the Central Ministers and grievances raised thereafter by the people.
The biggest cause of public outcry and nursing of being subjected to injustice in offices is the stonewalling attitude by majority of officials to the issues of the people . Firstly, the concept of approachability and meeting public to hear their grievances is grossly ignored . Secondly, the red-tape and when would a particular work and an issue be settled,is not made known to an ‘applicant’. Thirdly, even urgent and works related to basic amenities are not prioritised in order to pay preferred attention and last but not the least, accountability is nowhere to be seen as target and timeline oriented working culture is missing.
It is noteworthy that the focus has been on three major issues which include two Back to Village programmes conducted by the administration which had attached to it the concept of visiting the people concerned at their door steps , Public Outreach Programme in which a team of as many as 34 Union Ministers visited in turns, various far off places during January 18 to 24 and public grievances received by the Raj Bhawan and marked to various concerned departments therefrom. In other words, goals are set , vision is clear and only a proper strategy has to be formulated to accomplish the desired results hence the decision to review developmental works at district, tehsil and block levels. In this connection, Deputy Commissioners have been specifically asked to meet the Chairpersons of Block Development Councils (BDCs). We hope, beyond issuing instructions , the same would stand the test of percolating on the ground levels as well, looking to the seriousness shown by the Lt. Governor to make the UT administration more active ,responsive and sensitive to the problems of the people and a mechanism thus formulated to resolve them.
Since our rural and remote areas are more susceptible to shortage of drinking water and erratic supply of uninterrupted power , stress has been laid on addressing these main problems generally faced by the people. Back to Village programme , an initiative of people centric nature, “experimented” twice may not have brought about cent percent expected results but it was a novel and innovative administrative step which did send lessons to the administrative heads , District Authorities etc that the time had come when they needed to camp in villages and spend a few days to see for themselves the conditions over there , interact with the people and if possible, resolve the problems on the spot . Now, the fresh initiative as the one under reference, aims at consolidating the experience gained twice, before embarking upon , perhaps for the third tier of ‘Back to Village’programme. Elections to District Planning and Development Boards too are proposed to be held after by-elections to 12650 seats of Panchayats.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel