Ahmedabad, Sep 1 (PTI) The Gujarat government will organise a ‘Reform Utsav’ from October 2 to December 25 to go beyond grievance redressal and turn citizens’ suggestions into administrative reforms, officials said on Tuesday.
The campaign will be organised across the state from October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, to December 25, the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an official release said.
It will focus on identifying and categorising suggestions received from citizens and implementing them in a time-bound manner to create a wider impact across the administrative system.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel recently constituted the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission, it said.
In line with this approach, the campaign will go beyond grievance redressal and focus on systematically turning citizens’ suggestions into effective reforms and implementing them, the government said.
“The campaign aims to ensure that citizens’ voices lead to concrete action, reforms and results that directly benefit the people,” it said.
A state-level committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary for effective planning, implementation and monitoring of the Reform Utsav, it said.
To ensure that the initiative reaches citizens at the grassroots, several committees have also been formed in every district, the release said. The collector will head the district-level committee.
This mechanism will strengthen coordination of local suggestions, ensure their timely follow-up with departments concerned and encourage greater citizen participation, the government said.
A system has also been introduced to continuously track suggestions received through the ‘Reform Utsav’ portal and their implementation. The portal will display the number of suggestions received, those accepted for implementation and their current status.
The main phase of the drive will begin on October 2 with a ‘Jan Manthan Sabha’ organised in every panchayat.
Citizens will be informed about the campaign through addresses by senior dignitaries. Help desks will also be set up with the support of MY Bharat volunteers and Common Service Centres, allowing citizens to submit their suggestions directly at the venue.
Throughout October, public awareness activities will be organised at various levels, including ward meetings, public gatherings, rallies, walkathons, cycling and bike rallies, street plays and campus outreach programmes.
The outreach will also cover women’s self-help groups, farmer producer organisations, traders’ associations, cooperative institutions, hospitals, industrial units and housing societies. ASHA workers, ANMs and Anganwadi workers will further spread awareness about the campaign through door-to-door outreach, the release said.
The Reform Utsav will follow a three-stage process — ‘Jan Manthan’, ‘Vimarsh’ and ‘Jan Samadhan’.
During ‘Jan Manthan’, citizens’ suggestions will be collected. In the second stage, ‘Vimarsh’, departments will review the suggestions, identify possible reforms and classify them as ‘Quick Wins’ or ‘Medium-Term Reforms’, the release said.
As part of ‘Jan Samadhan’, Quick Wins will be implemented from October 10 to December 20. For medium-term reforms, departments will prepare an implementation roadmap, upload it on the portal and begin the implementation process.
A suggestion will qualify as a reform if it meets five criteria — it should apply to everyone under normal circumstances, identify the root cause of the issue, improve future processes, have the potential to be adopted as a standard rule or Standard Operating Procedure elsewhere, and offer a constructive solution.
“By turning citizens’ experiences and suggestions into tools for administrative reform, Gujarat will take another step towards simpler, more transparent, accountable and citizen-centric governance,” the government said.
At the end of December, successful reforms and best practices will be highlighted through ‘Sankalp Siddhi’, further strengthening the commitment to continued reforms, it said. PTI PJT NR
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.