The Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam today chaired a meeting to take stock of the measures to be put in place to check the malpractice of corruption in various departments. Sources privy to the meeting said that Chief Secretary said that Corruption is the biggest problem plaguing the state and those involved shall not be spared. He also asked Secretaries to identify the officers involved in Scandals and take action against them. He sought a report from ACB and asked the Director to identify the officers and department where rampant corruption is going on. 

Financial Commissioner, Finance Department, Principal Secretaries of Home Department, Revenue Department, Power Development Department, Social Welfare Department, Commissioner Secretary, Jal  Shakti Department, Secretaries of Planning Development & Monitoring Department, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department and Director, Anti Corruption Bureau among others participated in the meeting.

At the outset Financial Commissioner, Finance informed the meeting about numerous steps taken by the Finance Department to curb financial irregularities, thus, reducing the scope of processes that breed corruption. It was mentioned that it is now mandatory for all government departments to execute projects/ works only through e-tendering, make purchases through Government e- Marketplace (GeM), generate bills on JK Payment System (Pay Sys) portal, and make payments through Aadhar seeded Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), besides, ensuring geo-tagging of the created assets alongwith their photographs.

It was further mentioned that no payment for any work is being released without accord of administrative approval and technical sanction of the work. Besides, Finance Department is also bringing out a compendium of new instructions, issued in this regard by the department.

The Chief Secretary, while naming a few departments figuring as highly vulnerable to corruption, urged the departments to promote transparency and accountability, follow model practices and carry out systemic reforms to curb corruption in the governance system.

The Chief Secretary asked Secretaries to suggest measures to check corruption in their departments within a week.

Reiterating the government’s resolve of zero tolerance towards non adherence to rules, illegal commission-omission of acts by departments, Chief Secretary asked the officers to additionally address the procedural side of corruption which surfaces due to lack of codification of rules, and scarce technological interventions at field offices paired with dearth of human resource development programmes for capacity building of government employees.

The Chief Secretaryon the directions of the Lieutenant Governor also chaired a meeting to review the preparations being put in place for prompt and efficient implementation of programmes under different pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan announced by the Prime Minister.

The meeting was informed that Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is a special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crores, equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP, which was recently announced by the Union Government to cater to welfare of various sections including cottage industry, MSMEs, workers, middle class and industries, among others. These are aimed at driving the country’s push towards self reliance and speedy growth.

While discussing various components of the package, Chief Secretary impressed upon the officers to thoroughly evaluate the announcements and respective targets in the ambit of the pillars of the programme namely- Economy, Infrastructure, Governance Systems, Vibrant Demography and Demand.

To monitor the optimum utilization of resources, funds and time bound progress under various components of Atmanirbhar whilst ensuring convergence of different departments, Chief Secretary directed constitution of domain specific Task Forces to be headed by an Administrative Secretary for each one. He also enjoined calling a special meeting of the State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC) to look into bank, agriculture and industry related matters of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, so that the welfare measures can benefit the needy in a timely manner.

Financial Commissioner, Finance Department, Principal Secretaries of Home Department, School Education Department, Agriculture Department, Revenue Department, Power Development Department, Social Welfare Department, Commissioner Secretaries of Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, Labour and Employment Department, Jal  Shakti Department, Secretaries of Planning Development & Monitoring Department and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department participated in the meeting.