The Secretary to the President, Shri Sanjay Kothari said that aim of Public Services delivery is to ensure ease of living to citizens. He was addressing at the inauguration function of two-day Regional Conference on ‘Improving Public Service Delivery – Role of Governments’, in Nagpur, Maharashtra today. The 2-day conference is being organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services.

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari and Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of DONER, Minister of State for PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh, will address the Valedictory Session of the Regional Conference on “Improving Public Services Delivery – Role of Governments” tomorrow (22.12.19).

In his address, Shri Kothari said that the real power lies with the citizens of the country and it is the prime duty of the government to work towards making their lives easy.This realisation has empowered the citizens. He  said that the systems and processes should be made transparent. He said that any proposed change in the existing rules should be put in public domain first for suggestions and feedback from citizens. These inputs can be considered for decision making while incorporating changes. He added that Public Service Delivery is very important as citizens are now focussed on getting their work done. He encouraged the young officers to serve the citizens of India. He said that we should be more concerned about the citizens, and not the system. The system should be made simple and not complicated. While emphasising on ‘ease of living’ to citizens, he said Government need not control the delivery of services, but facilitate efficient, transparent and time-bound delivery.

 

 

Shri Kothari spoke about various initiatives of the Government for the ease of citizens. He said that interviews for recruitment to junior level posts in Government have been discontinued, which has boosted the confidence in Government. He also said that Government has done away with the mandatory police verification prior to joiningon appointment in Government service. The appointment letters can be issued after self-attestation by the candidates and the police verification can be completed within six months. He also emphasised that forms should be made simple and not complicated for ease of citizens. He also spoke about Grievance redressal mechanism. He further said that the officers should interact with people to have field experience and there is no substitute to it. Shri Kothari stressed upon ‘Out of Box’ thinking to find solutions to the problems of the citizens.

 

The Chief Commissioner, Right to Services, Maharashtra, Shri S. S. Kshatriya said that Information technology should be used optimally to benefit the citizens. He spoke about three aspects of Public Service Delivery i.e. Lokabhimukh (citizen-centric), Pardarshita (transparency) and Kalmaryada (time-bound). He said that a bilingual (Marathi and English) Mobile App and web portal (Aaple Sarkar) have been designed under RTS. He added that 486 services are under the ambit of Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act. Shri Kshariya said that 30,800 centres have been set up in Maharashtra to offer assistance to the people who apply online. He stressed upon the monitoring and evaluation of the performance. He said that ‘Yashogatha’ i.e. best practices should be aptly publicised to encourage the concerned officers.

Earlier while delivering her welcome address, the Deputy Secretary, DARPG, Smt. Renu Aroraunderlined the significance of the theme of the conference. She said the best practices in public service delivery will be deliberated upon during the two-day event.

The Commissioner RTS, Konkan, SmtMedhaGadgil,Secretary, GAD (O&M), Govt of Maharashtra, Smt. Anshu Sinha, Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, Commissioner, RTS, Punjab, Shri Mandeep Singh Sandhu, Chief Commissioner, Shri Hardeep Kumarsand delegates from various states attended the inaugural session.

The Regional Conference is being attended by the officials representing 22 States and Union Territories and also officials from the State Administration. Discussions are being held in 6 Technical Sessions. The Technical Sessions in the Regional Conference are:

1. How the Enactment of the Right to Services Law has helped in Improving Delivery of Public Services
2. Electronic Delivery of Public Services
3. Creating Awareness in Society regarding Right to Public Services
4. Centralized Public Grievances – Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)
5. Innovative Practices regarding delivery of Public Services
6. Ek Bharat-Shresht Bharat with focus on Improving Public Services Delivery in the Districts of Maharashtra and Odisha.

 

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RCJ/NK

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