State to prepare plan to tackle governance challenges amid corona

CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has commissioned Haryana Governance Reforms Authority (HGRA) to prepare a short and medium-term prospective plan to tackle fresh challenges to governance practices in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

According to a press release, HGRA chairperson Prof Pramod Kumar has been asked to coordinate the work of the task groups constituted to prepare the prospective plan. Additional chief secretary (power) T C Gupta will represent the state government and will be assisted by a team of senior civil servants attached to each task group as member-secretaries. The idea is to refocus the role of the government to correct the disruptions in production and supply chains with a view to prioritise policies to meet the essential needs of people.

Also, it will redefine the state’s role in relation to market, particularly in education, health, food security, public health, and housing sectors, the release said.

For this purpose, a number of task groups have been constituted to work out the short and medium-term prospective plan. The task group on food, agriculture and allied services will be chaired by Niti Aayog member Prof Ramesh Chand. That of industries and commerce will be headed by Maruti Suzuki chairperson R C Bhargava.

The health, public health and municipal services task group will be led by Public Health Foundation chairperson Dr K S Reddy, along with former Indian Council of Medical Research director general Dr V M Katoch as co-chairperson. The task group on housing for all will be chaired by Niti Aayog principal consultant Ashok Jain.