Jammu, January 25, (Scoop News)-N. N. Vohra, Governor Jammu and Kashmir, today emphasised the crucial importance of all the government functionaries putting in their best efforts to bring about visible changes in their style of functioning. He observed that adherence to a work culture which is embedded in efficiency, transparency, responsiveness and accountability must pervade the entire administrative apparatus.
Greeting the people on the 66th Republic Day, in a message, the Governor observed that serious gaps in the governance apparatus, particularly those which relate to the functioning of the public delivery systems, must be remedied without any loss of time whatsoever. Towards this end, he said, stern measures shall need to be taken to eradicate all dishonest elements from the public services and ensure that key positions are assigned only to functionaries with proven integrity and competence.
The Governor stressed that the menace of corruption and unaccountability, which has permeated all levels of functioning, shall need to be fought and eradicated with unflinching determination. He said that urgent steps shall also need to be taken for restoring the integrity of all public institutions, particularly those which are the watch-dogs of governance. In this context, he emphasised that the Right to Information Act must be implemented even more vigorously to enable the empowerment of the people at large and, among the various statutory bodies, the State Accountability Commission and the State Vigilance Commission must be particularly enabled to function without any hindrance.
Referring to the floods of an unprecedented scale which caused large scale loss of life and damage to private property and public infrastructure in the State in September last year, the Governor said that as per governmental assessments about 15 lakh families were adversely affected by the floods, which caused enormous damage to roads and bridges, and water, power and health systems. In Kashmir Valley, about one and a half lakh marooned persons were rescued while in the Jammu region thousands had to be evacuated to safer places.
READ MORE AT http://scoopnews.in/det.aspx?q=44121