Just
think. Was it not unthought-of, say, a year ago that a
manning the counter in a government office dilly-dallying
your work or denying the services applied for by you is
slapped with a fine? And was it imaginable that you are in
receipt of the papers that you had asked for within hours
of making the application? That too without the help of a
middleman or recommendatory note from some influential
person or beseeching the babu.
Yes,
now it is a reality in Madhya Pradesh, thanks to enactment
of Public Services Guarantee Act and setting up of the
Samadhan Ek Din Kendras in the offices of district
collectors.
Citing
some examples would be in order. Fardin Qureshi applied
for domicile certificate at 11.30 a.m. and was in receipt
of the same in the same afternoon. Munshilal Namdev of
village Mugalia Hat, Gopal Singh of village Tumada and
Kumari Tanisha Gurjar, from Bhopal were also for a
pleasant surprise when they received the documents they
had applied for the same day.
And
these are but a few cases. Hundreds of people throughout
the state are experiencing this major change every day in
the functioning of the administration.
Gwalior
reported what could have been dismissed as flight of
imagination a year ago. Thirteen sub-engineers and a
timekeeper of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED)
had to pay fine for denying services to the applicants
within the time limit prescribed for them under Public
Services Guarantee Act, which is going to complete one
year of its enactment on September 25 this year. They were
fined Rs. 99 thousand 500 for their offence of ignoring
the time limit for delivering these services. In yet
another case, Satna district collector imposed fine of Rs.
12 thousand on the Chief Municipal Officers of Nagar
Panchayt, Rampur Baghelan for failing to provide maternity
benefit to the beneficiaries. This amount would be
deducted from their salaries.
At
present the Act covers 26 services of nine departments.
Another 25 services of thirteen departments have been
identified for inclusion under it.
Enacted
at the special initiative of the Chief Minister Shri
Shivraj Singh Chouhan the legislation stipulates time
limits for delivery of notified services. Within a year 60
lakh applicants have benefited from it. Now online
services are also being provided.
Now
that the demand of introducing Citizens’ Charter is
gaining momentum throughout the country, Madhya Pradesh
has already put into effect the provisions of this first
of its kind legislation in the country.
A
separate Public Services Management Department has been
set up for enforcement of the Act. Now the government has
taken upon itself the responsibility of going in appeal in
case of rejection of an application seeking public
services. The appeal is automatically made in such cases.
This
Act has drawn country wide attention. Bihar has already
introduced a legislation on the same pattern and many
other states are keen to follow suit.
Even
the Prime Minster Dr. Manmohan Singh could not contain his
curiosity and enquired the Chief Minister Shri Chouhan
about provisions of this Act at the inaugural function of
Bina Refinery a few months back.
Enactment
of this legislation has sent a message across the state to
the government officials that they must be more responsive
and sensitive to people or face the message. On the other
hand, the people are growing aware that getting services
of the government is their right and the babus would
ill-afford to be condescend to the masses.
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