Work for ‘strong U’khand by 2025’: Dhami to IAS officers
DEHRADUN: Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday asked IAS officers to put in extra efforts to help build a “strong Uttarakhand by 2025”. He told the officers to give up the mindset of working from 10 am to 5 pm if they wanted to make a difference.
“It is you who execute all programmes and policies... let us get out of the culture of sticking to a 10-5 routine and be ready to take pains to build a strong Uttarakhand by 2025,” Dhami said, inaugurating a three-day brainstorming session, called “Chintan Shivir”, held at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
The session is aimed at finding ways to build a strong state.
Addressing the IAS officers, Dhami said he was expecting some practical solutions from the “Chintan Shivir” to speed up development. He also flagged the slow movement of files between government departments, saying it was a big hurdle in the timely realisation of development goals.
“I receive feedback and try to remain among the public most of the time. It is seen that many officers do not process the file properly. This is not an ideal situation. Quite often we do not take decisions on our own level. The file comes to me while moving from below, on which everyone has the same comment -‘’sent for higher approval’’. There is a need that we should also write our review on it. We need to change our work culture and should adopt it,” the chief minister said
Dhami said that the officers need to work on the mantra of simplification, solution, and satisfaction. The chief minister asked senior officers to prepare the annual confidential reports on the basis of tasks assigned to officials during a given period and their rate of success in executing them. “Our focus should be on the solution. At the time of filling the Annual Confidential Report, it should be noted whether the task given was done or not. We will start this work this year itself,” he said.
Dhami further said, “I have felt that the departments try to shift their responsibility on each other but we have to shun this tendency. As we have given the mantra of simplification, we have to know how many departments simplified the work. The solution has to be found by simplifying the procedures.”
Dhami pointed out sectors like tourism, yoga, hydroelectricity and horticulture, saying the state was yet to fully realise its potential in these areas.
“A thought should also be given to the low contribution of just 2 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product by hilly districts like Chamoli, Bageshwar and Rudraprayag,” he said.
“Powerpoint presentations made on occasions like these are always good. But the effort should be to go beyond them,” he said. “I hope some practical suggestions would emerge out of the camp which help in the ongoing efforts to build a strong Uttarakhand by 2025,” he said.
‘Policies should not be Dehradun based’
The CM said, “Right now, it is a general perception that the schemes we make are Dehradun based. We have to include the hilly districts in the framework of development. Plans should be made for the districts whose contribution to the state’s gross domestic product is less. The Centre-NITI Aayog and other central agencies are all ready to cooperate with us for the development of the state.”
The CM said the state can take inspiration from neighbouring Himachal Pradesh as the climate, geography and other conditions are very similar there. He said that in the coming days, Dehradun and surrounding areas would become more congested than ever before and they have to develop facilities accordingly.
“Complaints come about the Dehradun Smart City project. We need to learn from these mistakes. It is our responsibility and we have to fix it,” the chief minister said.
“Our thinking should be practical and it should be in the interest of the state. Nothing is going to happen by 2025 just by talking about the best state, but we have to show it by doing it. We have to make a strong Uttarakhand by 2025. We should make our politics keeping in mind our geographical conditions. If we can understand the problem well, we can reach the solution easily. We should change this mindset that work is not done by the government. Our action should speak.”