Srinagar: Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta has said that there is no chance of corruption in the Union Territory now as all services have been made online.
He said various schemes and platforms have brought transparency in the system which has ensured that no money can be withdrawn fraudulently from the public exchequer.
“We have taken the initiative of making all services online. The aim is to create a corruption-free environment. Earlier it was said that out of one rupee, less than 10 paise would reach the ground. Today such a system has been created where the entire rupee reaches the ground,” the officer told reporters after launching the ‘Bhrashtachar Mukt J&K’ campaign here.
No money can be withdrawn without administrative approval, technical approval, e-tendering and geospatial photography, he said.
Dr. Mehta said there were still some complaints of malpractices which the administration is working to address.
“Our aim is to address the remaining complaints as well. The government is doing whatever possible, but the people also have to come forward and support this initiative to build a corruption-free society,” he added.
The Chief Secretary said the Jammu and Kashmir administration was trying to become number one in governance in the country.
“We have made a lot of progress in many sectors. Now we want to be number one in governance as well. We are number one in IT services and are doing well in several other sectors too,” he said.
On reinstatement of lecturer Zahoor Ahmad Bhat who had appeared as petitioner-in-person before the Supreme Court bench hearing Article 370 petitions, Mehta said, “Let’s leave it at that.”
He also said digitalisation has vastly improved the public delivery of services and the development in Srinagar has been due to it.
“Digital is empowering people and digitalisation is ensuring that there is no corruption. Digital is the way forward and digital is also the way to make J&K future ready. Whatever development you are seeing in Srinagar – we are making Srinagar digital and future-ready,” he told reporters after launching a one-day Digital Fest at the Lal Chowk here.
He asserted that the development in Srinagar was because of digitalisation.
“Srinagar has never been like this before as Dal Lake, Lal Chowk and Poloview market have been improved and this has been possible only because of digitalisation. We have unleashed the power of digital and it has led to the power of huge improvement in the way public delivery (of services) happens,” he added.
Asked about the rising unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehta said people were basing their comments on unverified data.
“Those unaware of the data keep making unverified statements. Self-employment in 2022-2023 and in 2021 -2022 has been three lakhs in each year. That means six lakh self-employment. Four years earlier, these numbers were only 40,000. The difference between these numbers is in the intentions,” he added.
Implementation of measures like BEAMS, e-tendering, seeking of administrative approval and technical sanction have resulted in establishing financial discipline which has resulted in phenomenal increase in the number of projects being completed, from merely 9,000 projects during 2018-19 to 92,000 during 2022-23 with nearly the same expenditure, Mehta said.
The Chief Secretary remarked that IT interventions have brought about more transparency where all details of projects and services are being put in public domain. Through RTI and Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), citizens who seek their rights have been empowered, as guaranteed under law. The accessibility of people to project their grievances before senior functionaries and their timely disposals have been greatly facilitated through IGRAMS and JKGRAMS portals, he said.
The Chief Secretary complimented ‘Team J&K’ for their untiring efforts for taking J&K to the top-performing States/UTs in the country. While directing all the Prabhari officers to visit their concerned Panchayat at least once during this week, the Chief Secretary asked the Incharge Secretaries of the districts to intensively monitor the activities carried out under the “Bhrashtachar Mukt J&K” in their concerned districts.
Dr. Mehta further advised the Deputy Commissioners to fully involve all representatives of Urban and Rural Local Bodies in this intensive campaign against corruption.
Earlier, Commissioner Secretary, GAD, Sanjeev Verma gave an overview of the activities planned during the week as well as about the improvement in the overall working of the government which has been made possible through a slew of measures taken in the recent past. He informed that the week is going to provide an open platform to the citizens for a two-way exchange of ideas with the administrative machinery. He revealed that thousands of camps are going to be held across the districts of the UT right from Panchayat, Block, Sub-Division to District level.
On the occasion, several Administrative Secretaries and divisional and District administration gave their inputs about making this programme successful. The Deputy Commissioners provided details of the activities planned for the upcoming days of the week. They informed that counters/helpdesks have been established for departments like Revenue, Housing, PDD, PWD, Jal Shakti, Social Welfare etc. for receiving the grievances of the public and their instant resolution.
It was further revealed that activities like debates, discussions, painting competitions etc are also planned to create awareness among the College and school children about the menace of corruption and its possible remedies available to the public. More than 14000 events are going to be organized across all the districts of the UT with events at Panchayats, Patwar Khanas, Urban Local Bodies, Tehsils and Districts in which the general public is participating in large numbers.
