*Takes serious note of non-adherence to directions on field visits
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 9: Sending a loud and clear message that slackness at any level in the State bureaucracy will not be tolerated at any cost, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has pulled up the Administrative Secretaries of different departments for their failure to ensure implementation of the decisions taken in the District Development Board (DDB) meetings. Moreover, she has taken serious note of non-adherence to the directions issued from time to time on field visits of Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that while chairing meeting of Administrative Secretaries yesterday, Chief Minister expressed serious concern over inordinate delay in implementation of several decisions taken in District Development Boards (DDBs).
“I have come to know that action on huge number of DDB decisions is pending despite lapse of considerable period of time”, sources said quoting the observations made by Mehbooba Mufti while pointing towards the figures vis-à-vis pending DDB decisions furnished to her by the Planning and Development Department.
“Some newspapers have published series of news highlighting the fate of decisions taken in Board meetings of several districts of the State and inordinate delay in implementation of the same is sending a wrong message to the common masses, whose developmental aspirations are particularly watched at DDB meetings through their elected representatives”, sources further said quoting the concern expressed by the Chief Minister.
It is pertinent to mention here that the fate of decisions taken in the District Development Board meetings during the financial year 2015-16 was exclusively highlighted by EXCELSIOR through series of news-items in the months of May and June this year. It was also brought to the fore that even the District Development Commissioners have been feeling helpless in implementing decisions due to lack of cooperation from different Government departments and bureaucratic impassiveness was creating roadblock in developmental activities in several districts of the State.
The revelations by EXCELSIOR were also substantiated by the Planning and Development Department, which on ending June came up with the official figures indicating that majority of the decisions taken in the meetings of the District Development Board chaired by none else than the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were yet to be implemented because of varied reasons.
“You are supposed to ensure that DDB decisions in respect of your respective departments are followed-up properly and regularly and all the impediments are removed in shortest possible time so that objective of convening DDB meetings is achieved”, she told the Administrative Secretaries. She also asked them to be in constant touch with the Deputy Commissioners of the concerned districts to ascertain the status of the implementation of DDB decisions.
She explicitly told them that undermining the authority of the District Development Board will be viewed seriously as the objective of this platform is to take stock of the development needs of the districts and meet them by taking on board all the concerned departments.
Sources said that Chief Minister also took serious note of non-adherence to the repeated directions on field visits of Administrative Secretaries and Heads of Departments to inspect developmental projects under execution.
It is pertinent to mention here that some years back Administrative Secretaries were made mentors of different districts so as to ensure proper follow-up of the developmental projects under State and Central Schemes. Though initially there was positive response from the Administrative Secretaries but with the passage of time all the Administrative Secretaries lost interest in the mechanism.
During the tenure of present dispensation, the General Administration Department vide Circular No.30 dated June 15, 2016 issued detailed instructions to all the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of the Departments for inspection of developmental projects but only few Administrative Secretaries ensured adherence to the instructions till date.
“You should ensure strict compliance to these instructions so that execution of the projects is fast tracked by removing the impediments”, Chief Minister told the Administrative Secretaries. The Chief Minister also took serious note of hanging fate of several major projects for want of approval by the Contract Committees and issued directions for convening of Contract Committees meeting at regular intervals for prompt decision on the projects.
It is worthwhile to mention here that as per the circular dated June 15, 2016, all the Administrative Secretaries are required to review the important State and Central Schemes of their respective departments on a fortnightly basis and submit progress reports to the Chief Secretary at regular intervals.
Similarly, the Administrative Secretaries and HoDs are required to undertake field visits at regular intervals at least twice a week, which should be followed by submission of inspection reports. “Such issues requiring immediate attention and having potential of delaying the timely completion of the projects should be highlighted”, reads the circular, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
“Attempts shall be made to resolve/remove the contentious issue/visible bottlenecks on the spot and those required to be addressed at the Government’s level immediately brought to the notice of the concerned departments for obtaining the orders of the competent authority”, the circular further reads.
Moreover, as per the circular the lapses on the part of the concerned executing agency(ies) are required to be dealt with strictly and the action taken reported to the authorities. Wherever dereliction of duty on the part of any of the officer or official is reported, the disciplinary action as warranted under rules is required to be initiated by the Administrative Secretaries and HoDs.
According to the sources, Chief Minister also issued directions for clearing of the liabilities of those approved works which have already been executed. In this regard, she asked the Administrative Secretaries of Planning and Finance Departments to look into this aspect as early as possible.
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