CS unaware of ground reality on land issues: Rastogi
////Top officials differ on forest, revenue land issues at meeting chaired by Chief Secretary
Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal
The concluding session of a meeting called by Chief Secretary Anurag Jain to review various departments witnessed differences among officials over issues related to revenue and forest land.
As senior officials expressed differing views on the issue, Additional Chief Secretary, Panchayat Department, Deepali Rastogi during the meeting said that on the matter of revenue and forest land, Chief Secretary Anurag Jain is not aware of the ground reality. The statement was made in the presence of the Chief Secretary.
Rastogi and Additional Chief Secretary, Forest Department, Ashok Barnwal expressed differing views. Barnwal said forest land details are available on the Forest Department portal and can be accessed by anyone. Rastogi, however, said it is difficult for common people to use the portal.
She said that at times field officers of the Forest Department sideline orders issued by their seniors. She added that there is no clear solution to problems related to forest and revenue land.
Joining the discussion, Principal Secretary, Industry, Raghvendra Singh cited the Pithampur land issue. He said there are four types of notifications in Pithampur and when someone tries to set up an industry, the Forest Department raises objections.
Additional Chief Secretary, General Administration Department, Sanjay Shukla said that although there are 52,000 villages in the state, there is no clarity on which land belongs to the Revenue Department and which to the Forest Department.
CS asks depts to present action plan, target by Apr 15
Chief Secretary Anurag Jain instructed that departments should present their action plan and target by Apr 15. They have also been instructed to do a weekly review of Lok Seva Guarantee and CM Helpline cases. Reviewing the departmental schemes at Mantralaya on Wednesday, the Chief Secretary asked officers to present information related to major achievements of their departments and important works to be done in the coming time within a week. He underlined that departments should fix their targets for the next financial year with clarity. In the review meeting, discussion was also held on ensuring timely implementation of cabinet decisions and the writing of credential reports.
