Saturday, February 15, 2014

CMO underlines urgency to expedite follow-up on announcements

DEPARTMENT HEADS DIRECTED TO EXPEDITE DELIVERY ON POLICY ANNOUNCEMENT MADE BY CM
GANGTOK, 13 Feb: With the shadow of the model code of conduct looming large and expected to be in place as early as by the first week of March, the State government is expediting the execution of orders and notifications on announcements and assurances given by the Chief Minister. The urgency is expected now that not much time is left at hand before such policy interventions will no longer be possible once the Code sets in.
In this regard, the Chief Minister’s Office has issued an urgent order to the heads of various departments directing them to issue relevant orders and notifications, as the case may be, at the earliest in follow-up to policy announcements made by the CM.
The CMO has desired that executive orders be issued on the announcements of the Chief Minister which need to be followed up with the appropriate orders.
There are a total of 6 announcements and issues listed in the order of the CMO for further action. These include the announcement of the CM on transfer of Trade License from father to son following the death of the trade license holder. This is particularly relevant for members of the business community here who have always been faced with problems and obstacles in the form of bureaucrats who refuse to understand how this transfer is a natural process and should not be taken up as a fresh case. This matter comes under the UD&HD.
Also connected with this is the announcement of a 75% fee relaxation for unemployed youth with respect to trade license, token tax, environment clearance etc for which an order has to be issued by the relevant departments. This is to make it easier for unemployed youth to set up trade or service or business establishment in the state.
Orders have also been sought by the CMO on the matter of doubling the salaries of panchayat office bearers.
A more recent announcement made by the Chief Minister relates to supply of free electricity to people in the rural areas. In this regard order is sought for free consumption of electricity up to 100 units and 50% subsidy for consumption up to 300 units. It is for the Power Department to issue the relevant notification.
Then again the recent announcement of the CM during the Cooperative Sammelan held in Manan Kendra a few days ago of raising the ceiling of contract work to Cooperatives to Rs. 5 crore is for the Cooperatives Department to follow up with executive action.
In a relatively recent development, the CMO has also considered it urgent for executive orders to be issued on the matter of transfer of residential certificate to the son of the residential certificate holder on the latter’s death.
This ‘urgent order’ has been forwarded to various heads of departments including Forest, UD&HD, RMDD, Power, Roads & Bridges, Buildings, PHED, Irrigation and Transport.  It remains to be seen how the departments follow up on the directive.

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