SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, today held a high-level meeting of civil and police administration to take stock of the preparations for celebrating 31st October as the ‘UT Foundation Day’ here.
In the meeting attended by Administrative Secretaries and top-level police officers, the Chief Secretary called for their ideas about the ways of celebrating this day. He impressed upon the Departments to make preparations for showcasing all the positive changes that have taken root since the last 4 years after J&K’s transition into UT.
Dr Mehta observed that several far-reaching reforms and welfare measures have been implemented by the administration during these years which has enabled J&K to upgrade its infrastructure and services exponentially. He advised them to involve common citizens and PRI representatives in these celebrations as it is the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries.
He maintained that substantial changes have taken place in the social, economic, infrastructure and other sectors which need to be communicated. He asked them to encourage the public to bring out videos of any change they have witnessed during this time and reward those coming up with quality feedback. He made out that people’s views about the change should be respected and recorded for making suitable interventions in future.
Dr Mehta asked the IT Department to launch competitions on the ‘MyGov’ portal for the participation of the general public. He also directed the Culture Department to hold cultural events all across the UT on this occasion and give the opportunity to everyone to exhibit their creativity. He urged the Education Department to play its role in these celebrations by involving the students who are looking forward to future well-being.
He mentioned that besides ensuring transparent, responsive and accountable governance here by the introduction of IT initiatives like e-Office, online services, BEAMS, PaySys and others, there have been massive infrastructure upgradations too.
He stated that earlier the projects completed in the District Sector were just around 1500 which has taken a quantum leap to around 43000 projects the previous year. He noted that J&K has accomplished the finishing of nearly 2 lakh projects during the past 4 years of becoming the UT.
Dr Mehta also stressed on highlighting the transparency with which recruitments have been made during the past few years. He asserted that by any stretch of the imagination, the UT has been far better in providing better administration to its people sans any bias or corruption.
He advised all the Departments to prepare a document about its achievements and a video highlighting them. He asked them to put in the public domain all the reforms, achievements and changes that have taken place since 2019. He told them to collaborate with the Information Department for reaching to people through ways they deem suitable for themselves.
He impressed upon the RDD and ULBs to focus on the developmental scenario of Panchayats and Wards as narrated by people themselves along with the publication of department-wise compendiums.
The Departments were also said to focus on unity and celebrate the rich heritage and historical legacy of the UT. The School Education Department was asked to hold cultural events by students such as Painting Competitions, art & photography exhibitions, debates and quizzes where winners would be felicitated. The district administration would also carry out community service, and donation drives in all the public institutions as part of celebrations.
Social media campaigns shall also be organized highlighting the UT’s all-round progress and development across various sectors with hashtags like #JKFoundationDay, #JKTowardsTransparency, #PovertyFreeJK, #JKPride and #UnityinDiversity by the administration at local, district and divisional level.
