Expressing dissatisfaction over the pace of delivery of governance, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said there is still a huge gap in decision-taking and implementation on the ground and asked her ministers and bureaucrats to reach out to people to address their grievances.
"Our focus has to be on expediting development, ensuring good governance and providing a corruption-free administration," she said while chairing a high-level meeting here to review the progress of development projects in the Jammu region.
She said she was not satisfied with the present pace of delivery as there is still huge gap in decision-taking and implementation on the ground.
People have a lot of expectations from her government and it is the responsibility of the government functionaries to come upto their expectations, Mehbooba said.
"The Ministers shouldn't confine themselves to their constituencies or a particular region, but reach out to the people in every nook and corner of the state to mitigate the sufferings of the people," she said today.
"Similarly, I would like my officers at various levels to reach out to the people and redress their grievances and problems effectively," she said.
She also called for judicious use of the existing manpower and their capacity building to ensure better delivery of services.
During the four-hour meeting, the Chief Minister gave a detailed insight into the governance initiatives and good practices which can bring a positive change at the grassroots level.
She made it clear that her priority is the people and not politics or power.
"As long as I am here I would spend every day in mitigating the sufferings of the people," she said and added that she would like her officers to become partners in this enterprise of hope so that the people get to feel the change.
"All of us shall have to put our act together and make the things move at the desired pace on the development front," she said and added that adequate resources are available both through the State Plan and through Prime Minister's Development Programme for development.
"Only thing is to spend this money effectively and within the set time-frame," she said and added that in this endeavour she would need the support of the officers at the cutting-edge level.
She instructed officials to resolve the issues of public concern within the set time-frame.
She said PDP was founded in the immediate aftermath of
Kargil war and it was this party that first raised the banner of good relations between the two countries, an agenda that was accepted by everyone in the following years.
Our party will never compromise on the need for peace as it is our state and its people who are the main victim of hostilities in the region, she said.
Asking the party ministers to increase accessibility and interaction with the people, Mehbooba said the current trouble should lead us to work with more zeal for the welfare of the people and revive the cadres of the party to act as emissaries of peace and development.
While it is satisfying that the government has been able to ensure even in the face of difficulties and odds the supply of rations, power, water, gas, medicines and functioning of hospitals, education has received debilitating blow.
She said the business and the industry have suffered a loss of thousands of crores and numerous people have been rendered jobless.
Expressing confidence in the resilience of the people of Kashmir, Mehbooba said they have come out of many a crisis in the past and were trying to pick up the threads of life after the devastating floods of 2014 when the present turmoil cut short one of the best tourist seasons and revival of economic activities in the valley.
She said her government will provide succour in the revival of economy but those who are out to damage the states interests and keep the pot boiling will have to change their mindset and methods so that the people do not suffer.
Senior party leader and Member of Parliament Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is facing unprecedented challenges.
We have full confidence in the abilities and leadership of Mehbooba Ji that she will lead the people out of this morass and quagmire.
And I appeal every stakeholder to strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister so that a workable solution to our issues is realized, he said.
Beigh said resolution of the Kashmir issue is a must to ensure sustainable peace and development in the state and the parties to the conflict have to realize this fact and work in a manner that will facilitate bonhomie and good neighbourly relations.
