TURA: A review meeting of a first of sorts held at Tura, district headquarters of West Garo Hills, brought together district heads from as far as West Jaintia and West Khasi Hills to interact with their counterparts from the Garo Hills as part of the MDA government’s ‘Cabinet on the Move’ mission.
Chaired by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the meeting was attended by Home Minister James Sangma, Adviser to chief minister Thomas Sangma, Government chief Whip Marcuise Marak and Selsella MLA F C A Sangma, among others.
The bureaucracy was represented by Chief Secretary P S Thangkhiew, Additional Chief Secretary R V Suchiang, Principal Secretary D P Wahlang, Commissioner and Secretary P Sampath Kumar and the deputy commissioners.
In the course of the almost day-long meeting at the Tura Circuit House, several issues pertaining to the development of the districts were deliberated upon. Focusing on the rural sector, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was taken up with the PHE department officials relating to its timely implementation.
Aadhar coverage
With Aadhar gaining status as the most important identity document, the government urged the deputy commissioners to play a more pro-active role in increasing Aadhar coverage across the state.
Deputy Commissioner of South West Garo Hills, Ram Kumar S presented a report on Data Driven Governance (Database) while an update on the systematic review on the districts and preparation of the district survey reports was taken note of by the chief minister.
Growth Hubs
A key factor emphasised upon by the present regime was the creation of Growth Hubs in the various Community and Rural Development Blocks to ensure development at the grassroot level.
Summing up the all important meeting, the chief minister underlined the vital role played by the deputy commissioners in coordinating with all the departments of the state and added that this meeting was necessary to discover the various challenges faced by the districts as a means to devise a way to deliver the promises of governance and wellbeing better to the people of the state.
The chief minister reminded the serving administrators that “districts perform better when they work as a team”.
Prior to the review meeting by the chief minister, there was another high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary P S Thangkhiew with all the deputy commissioners of the various districts on the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal notified by the Centre.