Jammu: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today virtually participated in the numerous panchayat level convergence meetings held first time at the beginning of the new financial year 2023-24 across the Gram Panchayats of the UT.
Dr Mehta, during this interaction, impressed upon the Prabhari Officers of each Gram Panchayat to take full responsibility for representing the government in their concerned Panchayats. He exhorted them to create a proper mechanism of escalation of grievances at an appropriate level so that each of them is resolved to the satisfaction of the people.
The Chief Secretary also emphasized avoiding the ‘March Rush’ of presenting bills in treasuries. He instead asked them to complete all the work physically by the end of the year. He advised them to fix monthly targets for both physical and financial completion of works so that projects are completed efficiently throughout the year. He directed the completion of at least 7000 works each month across the UT for even distribution of workload throughout the year.
Regarding the development of panchayats, he asked the District Administration to make comprehensive Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) in consultation with PRIs by calling the Gram Sabhas on the 10th of April and finalizing the same by the 15th of the month. He told them to ensure the convergence of sectoral plans in the District and UT plans as per the nature and scope of the work.
He made out that the micro plans for Employment, Education, Sports, Culture, Health, Tourism, Cleanliness and Heritage aspects are the way forward to make overall progress at the grassroots level. He termed employment generation as the top priority area and called for making plans to employ all who are in search of it. He emphasized that Planning should be focused on finding solutions to real problems of people rather than expenditure. We should focus on the efficiency of expenditure as a major goal.
On the occasion the Chief Secretary interacted with the PRI representatives, visiting Prabhari Officers, officers of line departments attending the meeting besides Numberdars, Chowkidars and the people assembled for attending this monthly convergence meeting. He asked the representatives and village-level workers about the functioning of Schools, Health Centres, Anganwadi Centres and other village institutions. He also took appraisals from them about different amenities like the condition of roads, water, electricity and monthly ration provided to them. He even enquired from each of them about the status of Sports stadiums, online services and Door-to-Door collection of waste in their villages.
The Chief Secretary encouraged them to raise their grievances in these meetings for their resolution. He maintained that the UT has enough resources to meet the basic requirements of these villages. He directed for seamless connectivity of Numberdars/Chowkidars with higher authorities so that the real motive of the ‘people first’ approach adopted by the LG Administration is implemented right from our villages.
Commissioner Secretary, RDD, Mandeep Kaur during this interaction stressed holding this panchayat level convergence meeting each month without fail. She also emphasized framing the minutes for each of the meetings held and uploading the same over the JK Panchayat portal. She directed the Assistant Commissioners of Panchayats to consolidate these records for their concerned districts for onward submission to Administrative Office through Deputy Commissioners.