The Centre will assist the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to establish a public grievance portal in each of its 20 districts to ensure timely redressal of governance-related complaints, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.
In a significant drive to strengthen the ongoing good governance initiatives there, Singh and Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha held a telephonic discussion on the plan for the next phase of expansion of the online public grievance redressal portal in the Union Territory, according to an official statement.
Following the discussion, Singh immediately convened a meeting of senior officers dealing with public grievances, including secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public grievances (DARPG) Chhatrapati Shivaji and Additional Secretary V Srinivas, it said.
A plan was finalised to extend and establish a portal in each district headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir for addressing the grievances of citizens and for providing services seamlessly at their doorstep, the statement issued by the Ministry of Personnel said.
To implement this initiative, it has been decided that the DARPG will further enhance the ongoing collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir administration to revamp its “Awaaz e-Awam” portal with mapping of last mile grievance officers for improved quality of grievance redressal and reduced timelines in effective disposal of cases, it said.
Singh said that in pursuance of this endeavour, a focused team of officials from DARPG would be constituted to work with the Jammu and Kashmir government in the coming days.
“This initiative is a continuation of a series of sustained efforts by the Union government to create a transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly effective administration in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in line with the vision outlined by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the statement said.
Pertinent to mention, after the conversion of Jammu & Kashmir into a Union Territory, the DARPG had organized two important conferences there on good governance, it said.
These include regional conference on replication of good governance practices in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on November 15-16, 2019 and conference on Ek Bharat-Shresht Bharat with focus on Jal Shakti and Disaster Management on November 30- December 1, 2019, the statement said.
Above two conferences convened by the DARPG represented the first important events by the government of India in the newly created Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and laid down a roadmap for good governance there, the statement said.