India News | PB-MANN-DCs Punjab CM Directs DCs to Ensure On-the-spot Redressal of People's Grievances

Chandigarh, Apr 4 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday asked the deputy commissioners to regularly convene outdoor meetings, especially in villages, to ensure on-the-spot redressal of people's grievances.

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Chairing a meeting of the deputy commissioners (DCs) here, Mann directed them to organise special camps in a village or town for prompt resolution of pending issues or problems faced by the public.

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Terming the DCs eyes and ears of the state administration, Mann said, “You are the real face of the government because people have direct interaction with you rather than us (government) as they repose unflinching trust and confidence in you.” The chief minister also asked the DCs to conduct surprise checks at the "Saanjh Kendras" as these centres have been primarily set up for the convenience of the public, and told them to provide citizen centric services seamlessly, an official statement said.

According to the statement, in a bid to bring the drug addicts in the mainstream, Mann gave a target to start and upgrade the drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres in all the districts within a month so as to effectively rehabilitate the youth, which had gone astray and fell prey to drugs.

He said rehabilitation of drug addicts is instrumental to help them lead a life of self respect.

"The chief minister also assured the deputy commissioners of complete autonomy to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities and capacities without any political pressure. He, however, said that due respect and basic courtesies must be extended to the people's representatives and common man being a prime duty," said the statement.

While reviewing the status of ongoing wheat procurement in the state, Mann asked Director General of Police V K Bhawra to further intensify the vigil round-the-clock in order "to check illegal movement of wheat from across neighbouring states to Punjab as several unscrupulous traders often bring wheat clandestinely to sell in mandis across the state on MSP".

Mann asked the DGP to deploy 24x7 videography teams on the "nakas" (check points) till the end of the procurement season. Responding to chief minister's concern in this regard, Bhawra said that out of 132 check points put up by the state police, as many as 86 are in border areas while 46 are within the state, with total deployment of 1,150 police personnel. These surveillance operations are being supervised by senior police officials in all the districts, he said.

Expressing concern over the fast depleting groundwater level, Mann directed the Financial Commissioner (Agriculture) D K Tewari to ask all DCs to launch vigorous campaign in their districts in association with Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, to educate the farmers to go for direct seeded rice (DSR) technology in a big way, instead of the conventional paddy transplantation as the new technology would help the state to considerably arrest the trend of falling water table. Mann also asked Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari to issue detailed guidelines to the DCs to regularly visit the mandis to monitor the progress of the crop procurement in their respective districts in consultation with the district managers of various procurement agencies, food and civil supplies officials and local representatives of farmers. To motivate the senior officials, including divisional commissioners, DCs, senior superintendents of police, and sub divisional magistrates, to serve the people with missionary zeal, Mann also announced 'Best Performing Award' for deserving officials, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)