Centre simplifies nearly 500 rules; earns over Rs 250 cr in scrap disposal

The Centre has simplified nearly 500 rules and processes to ensure "ease of living" besides earning a revenue of more than Rs 250 crore from disposal of scrap under the ongoing special Swachhta campaign, senior bureaucrat V Srinivas said on Friday.

He said around three lakh public grievances have been redressed in the campaign.

"Of these, 4,500 public grievance cases pertain to pensioners," said Srinivas, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).

He said the scale of the campaign is vast and comprehensive.

"Nearly 500 rules and processes have been simplified across government for improving ease of living. Each of these steps will benefit millions of India's citizens," Srinivas told PTI.

The special campaign 2.0 is being undertaken from October 2-31, 2022 in remote outstation offices, foreign missions and posts, attached and subordinate offices of the central government among other organisations.

"As many as 61,532 cleanliness campaign sites, earning Rs 252.25 crore through scrap disposal and also freeing up of 34.69 lakh sq feet of space are significant achievements during three weeks of implementation of the campaign," said Srinivas, a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Rajasthan cadre.

The special campaign 2.0, in its three weeks, was holistic in size and scale, witnessed widespread participation from thousands of officials and citizens who came together to create a movement for 'swachhta' in government offices, he said.

"The most significant outcome of the campaign has been the institutionalising of swachhta in government offices and significant minimising pendency across government," Srinivas said.

He said it has been an inspiring experience to see so many common citizens come together to work with the government.

In Guwahati, hundreds of pensioners aged above 80 participated in the campaign to use the face authentication application to submit Jeevan Praman (proof of life to ensure continuity of pension) online, said Srinivas, who is also Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare.

"At railway stations, post offices, krishi vigyan kendras -- which have significant public interface -- the feedback from citizens has been extremely supportive of the initiatives undertaken under the special campaign," he said.

Records management and weeding of lakhs of files, conserving historical records and digitisation makes for cleaner office spaces, where work environment is conducive and healthy are the outcome of the campaign, the senior officer said.

"Officials are more productive, citizen experience is friendly and overall satisfaction in dealing with government is higher," he added.

The special campaign has succeeded in "bringing citizens and the government closer" and this is the best manifestation of the government's "maximum governance, minimum government" policy, Srinivas asserted.