Srinagar: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has sent out a strong warning to government officials who don’t heed to complaints.
Government sources told KNS on Tuesday that, in council of ministers meeting held on Monday at Jammu, the Chief Minister said that officials who do not improve their performance despite repeated complaints should be sacked.
Sources said that the Chief Minister has asked the assessment of employees who are habitual of corruption and other unlawful activities.
Sources said that Mehbooba also asked the ministers to recommend action against erring officials.
Sources added that the CM also asked all government departments, which have to extensively deal with the public, to set up a grievance-monitoring mechanism.
CM also laid thrust on quicker delivery of the government's developmental agenda as he also embarked on a comprehensive review of the ongoing schemes in the meeting.
Sources also said that the CM urged all ministers, to set up a system for top-level monitoring of grievances immediately.
Sources said that though the CM was informed that the government had already been initiating steps to warn errant officials and installed CCTV cameras to keep tab on them, the CM observed that action must be taken against such officials. Sources said Mehbooba has also asked top bureaucrats to work together and resolve prickly issues quickly and get out of the government way of doing business by passing files from one to another.
It is to mention here that the anti-graft bodies who have been set up to combat the increasing corruption in Jammu and Kashmir, have failed to make perceptible change to ensure transparency in governance in the State.
Although the successive governments prior to elections had promised to strengthening the anti-corruption bodies in the State, however, all these institutions have failed to make noticeable change on the ground as they have either remained headless or defunct for months or facing shortage of manpower. (KNS)
CM takers serious note of selective eviction of Gujjars from Jammu Forests
Jammu: Taking a serious note of the reports of selective eviction of Gujjars and Bakerwals from the forest areas in Jammu region, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today asked the Forest Department to exercise caution so that the poor nomadic communities living in forest areas for decades together are not harassed and dislocated.
According to highly placed sources, speaking at the meeting of Administrative Secretaries here today, the Chief Minister while referring to the reports of selective eviction of Gujjars and Bakerwals from the forest areas and subsequent protests by them, said that it is the responsibility of the Government to safeguard the habitations and livelihood of the tribal communities which is deeply linked to the forests. “If they (Gujjars) have been living in the forest areas for three to five decades, they can’t be forced on roads, for whatever reasons,” she said.
According to sources, some influential Ministers in the PDP-BJP coalition government have been repeatedly voicing their concern over the selective eviction of Gujjars from the forest areas of Jammu region.
Pertinently, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has also made it clear that nobody has the right to snatch away the land of tribals where they have been living for decades.
“It's the priority of our government to ensure that tribals get their right. No one has right to snatch away their lands,” the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the first National Tribal Carnival at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi last month.
Meanwhile, responding to the reports of selective eviction of Gujjars from the forest areas of Jammu, Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment, Choudhary Lal Singh said his department upholds the concept of associating local communities for conservation and preservation of forests as stakeholders.
He said the department has initiated a process for registration of all genuine nomads to facilitate their movement, grazing of livestock and overall livelihood including dependence on minor forest produce.
“So far more than 410 families have been registered and all DFOs have been directed to enroll and register the nomadic and tribal families for a permanent database indicating details of members of families and number of livestock owned which will help the department to facilitate them and keep check on land grabbers who often resort to using the poor nomads for their vested interests,” the Minister said and added that more than 45000 hectares of forest land has been retrieved from encroachers this year and it mostly included the land grabbed by well off and influential people.
The Minister assured redressing all grievances of tribal and nomadic families in such cases of alleged demolition of houses and reaffirmed that no family will be disturbed while the department will continue its drive against encroachers who have grabbed huge chunks of land especially in semi-urban areas where cost of land is huge. (KNS)
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