Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 5: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that over the last five years, one of the major achievements of the Modi Government has been that it “institutionalised” transparency in governance and hoped the same would be replicated by different State and Union Territory Governments also.
Inaugurating the National workshop on Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (ARPG) Union Ministry of Personnel and attended by officers from States and Union Territories, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that the Government began its first term in office with a declaration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort that interviews for lower posts will be abolished in order to ensure transparency in appointments, following which DoPT promptly accomplished this exercise and issued the orders w.e.f. Jan 1, 2016.
As for the grievance cell is concerned, Dr Singh said, it was virtually inactive and suffered from administrative indifference but, he said, he was proud to note that within the first three years of the Modi Government 1, it was made one of the most vibrant organs of the Govt of India, the result of which is that, while before 2014, the average number of grievances received was just around 2 lakh per year, now it is over 16 lakh per year, because the response is timely and prompt and, has therefore raised hope and expectation as well as urge in the common citizens to register their grievances.
Within a short span of five years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the means of filing grievances and receiving response has been simplified with the introduction of Portals and at the same time, the RTI filing procedure has also been made on-line with Portals and Apps, which gives citizens the opportunity to file complaint/plea at any part of the day or night and from any part of the country or even sitting at home. In earlier years, he recalled, to generate enthusiasm among people, he would personally monitor the disposal of grievances every Friday evening and also made random phone calls to complainants to receive their feedback.
While emphasising on citizen participation and citizen-centricity, Dr Singh also reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasises citizens satisfaction and said, the ease of governance ultimately aims at bringing ease of living for the common citizens.
Secretary Personnel C Chandramouli and Additional Secretary APRG V Srinivas also spoke on the occasion. Department of Tele-Communication and the Railway board made presentations.
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