Centre to help J&K in establishing grievances portal in each district

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday said the Centre had decided to assist the Jammu and Kashmir administration in establishing “Grievances Portal” in each of the 20 districts of the Union Territory.

According to officials in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, the Union Minister held a telephonic conversation with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, during which they discussed the plan for the next phase of expansion of the online public grievance redressal portal in the UT.

The move is seen as significant in view of the ongoing plan to strengthen governance initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir.

The officials said soon after his discussion with the LG, Singh called a meeting of senior officers dealing with public grievances, including the Secretary of the Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (ARPG), Chhatrapati Shivaji, and Additional Secretary V Srinivas.

“A plan was finalised to extend and establish a portal in each of district headquarters in the UT for addressing the grievances of citizens and for providing services seamlessly at their doorstep,” a senior official said.

To implement this initiative, it has been decided that the Department of ARPG of the Centre will further enhance the ongoing collaboration with the UT government to revamp the “Awaaz-e-Awam” portal with a mapping of last-mile grievance officers for improved quality of aggressing grievance and reduced timelines in effective disposal of cases.

The Minister, on his part, confirmed that in pursuance of this endeavour, a focused team of officials from the Department of ARPG would be constituted to work with the UT administration in the coming days to ensure that each of the 20 Jammu and Kashmir districts has a portal.

“This initiative is a continuation of a series of sustained efforts by the Union Government to create a transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly effective administration in the UT in line with the vision outlined by the Prime Minister,” Singh said.