“Challenges of 21st Century cannot be met with education stuck in the 20th Century”

CM COMPLETES VILLAGE-TO-VILLAGE TOUR OF EAST DISTRICT

PROJECTS APPROVED DURING SIKKIM BHRAMAN WILL BE COMPLETED IN TWO YEARS AND ALL BILLS CLEARED BEFORE THIRD YEAR WAS UP, CM ASSURES

SAGAR CHHETRI
GANGTOK, 31 July: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling stressed yesterday that one cannot cope up with the challenges of the 21st Century or measure up to its opportunities with the education of the 20th century. It was for this reason that the State government has been working diligently towards providing quality education and services to the people to the state, he explained.

He was speaking to a massive gathering of the students from different schools at Ranka Senior Secondary School ground during the second halt of the 35th day of his village-to-village tour on Saturday. The east district tour was wrapped up with interactions with the people of Martam-Rumtek and Upper Burtuk constituencies yesterday.
Addressing the students directly, the CM stressed the need for them to learn well because tomorrow’s Sikkim will depend upon the character and capabilities of today’s students.
He also explained the various schemes and programmes launched by the government to service the educational aspirations and needs of the younger generation and invited them to take full advantage of these opportunities and facilities.
He assured that henceforth no student will have to abandon his/her academic ambitions because of economic constraints, pointing out that enough schemes and scholarship plans were now in place to assist higher studies.
He underlined that similar commitment in the interest of the people had guided governance in Sikkim for the past 18 years and stressed that while most of the promises made to the people have been achieved, even the few pending targets will be achieved in the near future. The final lap, he said, requires the complete participation of the people.
Speaking to government officials, he urged them to facilitate implementation of policy decisions and expediting delivery on the demands of the people.
He stressed that funds constraints should not be made an excuse in sanctioning and implementing the need-driven demands of the people. Government officers, he stressed, should understand budgetary management and find ways and means to ensure fluid delivery.
He directed that all works sanctioned on the spot during the village-to-village tour should be completed within 2 years and all payments cleared within three years. The government, he reiterated, was working with a clear target of completing all aspects of projects undertaken during the tour within 36 months.
“We have three financial years with us for the present term and if funding was an acceptable excuse, then the developmental works which we have achieved in the past 18 years would have taken 90 years to complete,” the CM remarked.
On the demand of the people at Ranka, he sanctioned 162 green houses, poly pipes, tanks and other required materials for floriculture development on condition that the people worked hard to make the investment worthwhile. He also assured to provide all possible support and assistance for the development of home-stay and village tourism in the area.
While recalling the 35 days of his tour, the CM mentioned that over these 35 days the government declared plans to open a degree college in Gyalshing, which is functional now, and the state has received a new Chief Secretary in Karma Gyatso and Additional Chief Secretary in R Ongmu during the course of the tour.
While congratulating the two officers on their new responsibilities, he expressed confidence that the top-two bureaucrats of the State will now gear administration to a level where all government offices will work with full commitment to fulfil the aspirations and hopes of the people.
At his last halt at Thamidara Junior High School, the CM interacted with the people of Luing-Perbing GPU under Upper-Burtuk constituency.
Here, in her welcome address, the Panchayat President, Sobha Gautam, on behalf of the people complained over the manner in which several schemes have been undertaken in the area with the panchayats and the public kept in the dark about the schemes. She informed that the departments tended to use the panchayats only for preparation of conditional reports and bypassed for later stages.
The CM congratulated the Panchayat President on the frankness with which she spoke up for the people and pointed out if lapses were pointed out so boldly and openly, it would help the government rectify the shortfalls and mistakes.
Such confidence, he added, could come only from a strong sense of ownership of the affairs of the State and the development process and encouraged more people to embrace such sense of belonging.
Addressing the complaint that panchayats, and thus the people, were often kept in the dark by the departments, the CM informed that it was to correct this anomaly that the government has decided that henceforth all the departments will have to address a ‘public hearing’ in the Gram Sabhas before executing any work in the villages.
“This system will also eradicate the anti-social elements and middlemen who have been extracting percentages from people’s works,” he said.
The CM also directed the concerned department to submit a detailed report on the delay in the construction of green houses in the area within one week. He assured that strict action will be taken against the guilty officer.
He also directed the Horticulture Department to develop the area for horticulture and floriculture and assured to purchase 17 acres of land at Thamidara for tourism purposes [one of the oversights pointed out by the Panchayat President].
The tour had started earlier in the day with interactions with the people of Rey-Mindu GPU under Martam-Rumtek constituency at Timpam.