Addressing public grievances
In today’s world where the public-government interactions are increasing with every passing day, the administration is admitting the reality that good governance model can only be established firmly if a robust public grievance mechanism is put in place.
The administration in Jammu and Kashmir too seems to be alert to the needs of the public as various public grievance mechanisms have been put in place so that genuine issues and problems faced by the people at large are addressed.
The administration has already worked out on this as the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has been monitoring all public grievances on regular basis and a well defined mechanism has been put in place to see that all issues raised by the people are addressed and that too in a time bound manner.
Now the process is being taken a step further as the Administrative Council just the other day gave approval to the establishment of the Department of Public Grievances as a separate Administrative Department.
Notably, the domain of redressal of public grievances was assigned to the Administrative Reforms, Inspections, Trainings and Grievances Department. However, the latest administrative reform measure is in line with the commitment of the Government that envisages promotion of citizen-centric governance with emphasis on grievance redressal innovations through e-Governance.
The move will surely ensure better administration and quality public grievance with better outcomes for the aggrieved thereby guaranteeing efficient disposal of official business and that too in a time bound manner.
Importantly, the grievance redressal mechanism is being made an important component of the governments functioning in Jammu and Kashmir. The administration has already taken the decision of nominating Grievance Redressal Officers where ever the need was felt.
Th government has already ensured grievance redressal mechanism for Persons with Disability in all the concerned departments of the Union Territory.
The appointment of the officers was made to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy the rights to equality, life with dignity and respect for his or her integrity equally with others, personal liberty, reasonable accommodation and appropriate environment with zero tolerance for discrimination on the ground of disability.
Interestingly, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 makes it mandatory to follow certain principles for empowerment of persons with disabilities. These inter alia included respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including freedom to make one’s own choices and independence of persons, non-discrimination, full and effective participation and inclusion in society, respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity, equality of opportunity, accessibility, equality between men and women and respect for evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
KV News
