Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday called upon the District Collectors to provide corruption-free and accountable administration to the people of the State.
The priorities of the citizens are the top priorities of the State Government, he said, adding, these priorities should also be the focus of attention of the District Collectors he said while addressing Collectors’ Conference at the Mantralaya here.
Singh said that there should be stress on 'transparency and politeness'.
He appreciated that all the District Collectors are holding 'Jan Darshan' programmes and Public Grievances Redressal camps are also being conducted in all the district headquarters.
Apart from these, the Collectors should meet public representatives and citizens on every Monday and try to redress their problems, the Chief Minister said.
The administrative officers should never display arrogance. All efforts should be made to settle the grievances of the general public. The public representatives should be treated with respect. The people should not get the impression that their problems are not being heard at the District Collector's office. If the Collector is unable to handle the issue at his level he should with utmost politeness convey the message to higher authorities, Singh said.
Singh said citizens approach the Collectors with a lot of expectations. The system should be evolved in such a way that even a poor man's grievance is settled at the district-level itself. The citizens should not be put to harassment for even petty matters.
The message should be sent to all layers of the district administration that a citizen with a genuine problem should not be put to any inconvenience. Public Grievances Cell should not be only a formality, he said.
Singh reviewed the drought situation and electricity supply, telecom facility, roads and rail connectivity in the entire State at the meeting.
The Chief Minister also greeted the District Collectors on the New Year and wished them well.
He said that many Collectors have initiated novel schemes which gained recognition at the national-level. They should not forget the basic function of redressal of the people’s grievances. The post and responsibilities of the Collectors are very crucial for the implementation of various schemes. The working style will have a direct bearing on the public and the image of the State Government is built on it, Singh said.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government had already completed two years of the third term and the next three years are crucial. They have chalked out a master plan for villages, poor and farmers and the overall development of the entire State. This year will be a base year for this plan.
Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand and senior officers of various departments were present at the meeting.
The Chief Minister also directed all the District Collectors to make at least one development block and one city of respective district 100 per cent open-defecation free by the end of this fiscal year by March 31 of the current financial year.
He directed that the each district should set the goal of declaring at least one urban area as open-defecation free urban body by March 31.
He said that this is the national mission of highest priority, initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We all should come together to achieve the target set for Chhattisgarh under this mission, he said.
It was informed in the Collectors’ Conference that till date total 462 Gram Panchayats in the entire State have been declared open-defecation free under Clean India Campaign (rural).
Singh directed officials to speed up the progress of works under the campaign.
About Rs41.94 crore had been distributed as compensation to 83,412 farmers in the drought affected regions of Chhattisgarh, it was informed in the meeting.
Singh called upon the officials to hasten the distribution of compensation to the farmers. All the farmers should be paid compensation by March 31 .
The Collectors informed Chief Minister that about ten lakh workers are being provided with employment under the MGNREGA in all the gram panchayats of Chhattisgarh.
Singh directed the top officers that payment should be made within 15 days to their banks. While reviewing the work of the Food Department, he inquired about the Aadhar registration progress.
The officials said that more than 2.57 crore people have been registered in all the 27 districts under the Aadhar registration.
Singh urged them to bring ration card holders into the Aadhar scheme registration.