Jammu, Oct 9: National Conference additional general secretary and former minister Ajay Kumar Sadhotra on Friday hailed the streamlining of building permissions across Jammu and Kashmir as a step in the right direction, saying hassle-free and time-bound public services would go a long way in easing the difficulties faced by ordinary people.
Interacting with the women folk at Indra Vihar Ward number 35 in Jammu north assembly constituency, Sadhotra said the government’s efforts to simplify and streamline building permission procedures would help reduce unnecessary delays and make the system more transparent and citizen-friendly.
He said building permission was among the many services where people often had to make repeated visits to offices and wait for prolonged periods. A transparent, technology-driven and time-bound mechanism, he added, would save people time, money and inconvenience.
Sadhotra recalled that the Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), pioneered during Omar Abdullah’s government in 2011, was conceived precisely with the objective to empower citizens by guaranteeing delivery of identified public services within stipulated time limits.
“The basic philosophy behind the Public Services Guarantee Act was simple and people-centric. A citizen should not have to run from one office to another for a service that the government is duty-bound to provide. There should be a fixed timeline, a designated officer and accountability for delay,” he said.
He said effective implementation of the Act could prove a game changer in public service delivery, particularly when combined with digital platforms and simplified procedures.
“Streamlining building permissions is a welcome beginning. But the larger objective should be to ensure that every service covered under the Act reaches the citizen in a transparent, time-bound and hassle-free manner. Empowering people means reducing their dependence on intermediaries and unnecessary visits to government offices,” Sadhotra said.
He said the Act had the potential to transform the relationship between the citizen and the administration by making accountability an integral part of governance.
Former minister hoped that the present government would ensure effective implementation of the legislation in letter and spirit and strengthen the institutional mechanisms necessary for timely delivery of services.
He alleged that the BJP and its proxies had diluted the spirit and effectiveness of several such citizen-oriented measures during their tenure, resulting in greater inconvenience for the common people.
“Good governance is not measured by the number of announcements but by the ease with which an ordinary citizen can access a government service. A widow seeking a certificate, a young person seeking a document, a family seeking building permission or an entrepreneur seeking an approval should not have to spend days making rounds of offices,” senior NC leader said.
He said a responsive administration should treat citizens as rights-holders rather than supplicants. Time-bound delivery of services, he added, would also strengthen public confidence in government institutions.
He urged the administration to regularly monitor the performance of designated officers, ensure accountability for avoidable delays and create effective grievance-redress mechanisms wherever services were not delivered within the prescribed period.
The former Minister said the National Conference remained committed to people-centric governance and would continue to support measures aimed at making administration more accessible, transparent and accountable.
He said Jammu and Kashmir needed an administrative culture in which technology was used to simplify procedures rather than create new layers of complexity and the Omar Abdullah government was sincerely working towards this.
Dozens of women joined the National Conference. Ayesha Gupta in-charge women wing of Jammu North assembly constituency welcomed the new entrants and hoped that their coming to the party further strengthen the hands of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah.
About The Author
