Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Dec, 06:
With bureaucracy having assumed the centre stage in the state, the Advisors seemed to have lost control over the affairs of administration, said Mr. Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and Former Minister. With the orders of the Advisors being openly ignored and disregarded by the bureaucrats, it was the latter whose writ was running in the state, said Singh. The bureaucrats had become all powerful taking all Major decisions on policy matters and transfers with the Advisors merely acting as ornamental pieces, said Singh. He was addressing a press conference in Jammu today.
Devoid of Accountability, the bureaucracy was functioning as per its own whims and fancies without having any connect with the public at large and their concerns. The result was the growing discontent and alienation amongst the general masses. “What happened to the tall claims of the Governor’s Secretariat that the Advisors would meet and hear the grievances of individual citizens, deputations, delegations and civil society organizations for prompt redressal of all complaints and grievances and to ensure their outcome-oriented resolution? It is a sheer irony that the public grievances projected before JK Governor’s Grievance cell in both Jammu and Srinagar hardly yield any result which has led to severe revulsion among the masses”, Harsh regretted. He said that the remote and far flung areas were the worst sufferers of the present rule as neither the Advisors had bothered to visit such difficult areas during the past five months and nor had the public of the said areas any access to these Advisors. Moreover, the two Advisors being non-locals had no connect with the people and as such the alienation had soared in such a scenario with bureaucracy taking the lead and ruling the roost, he added. Mr. Singh regretted that Advisors were dancing to the tunes of powerful bureaucracy. He observed that the public complaints duly marked by the Advisors to their respective bureaucrats were just contemptuously thrown in the waste bin by the latter in most disdainful manner.
Accusing the bureaucrats of running the State at their own sweet will which could bring disgrace to the Governor’s administration, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh rued that the orders and directions of Advisors were hardly being implemented which was his personal experience as well. Exhorting the Advisors for prompt redressal of the issues concerning public, he said that they should ensure deliverance at the ground level so that the people got benefited from the various programmes and schemes. He further suggested that a weekly schedule should be announced by each Advisor for meeting the people outside the secretariat so that the general needs and demands of the people were also addressed by them in a convenient manner. He regretted that till date these Advisors had preferred to remain confined to their cocooned and sanitized environment without any idea of the genuine issues of the public. Mr. Singh made a fervent appeal to the Governor to take a periodic review and feed back of the functioning of various Government departments on a regular basis in the interest of efficient governance and the public welfare.
