WORK CULTUR: Agriculture Minister gets a shocker

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Now the CAO will issue fertilizer license

250 fertilizers files pending in Secretariat for last 4 yrs

By Ajmer Alam Wani

JAMMU, OCT 11: The Civil Secretariat, which hosts the top offices of Jammu and Kashmir Government and controls the entire state administration, speaks volumes about the delay and poor work culture within. Every file after moving from one department to other finally reaches the Civil Secretariat premises, where these file eat dust. What to talk of public, even the ministers are surprised to know that about 250 files are pending in this top office of the state from where government is controlled.

It was really a matter of surprise and shocker for Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir when he detected 250 files pertaining to fertilizers issuance pending in the Civil Secretariat for want of decision for last 4 years. He was astonished to know that 4 years before farmers had applied for fertilizers quota in their favour for the period required as per season’s requirement. However, because of the centralization, concerned Chief Agriculture Officers had sent the cases to the Secretariat where the cases were submitted to the concerned Secretary and the Minister 4 to 5 years before and still the decisions were awaited.

When contacted, Mir described the earlier policy of the Agricultural Ministry as wrong policy due to which the farmers were made to suffer and approach Secretariat for petty issue. He mentioned that if a farmer wants fertilizers for distribution today in Ladakh or in a remote area of Doda, he has to approach Srinagar and get the file cleared from the Civil Secretariat.

Chief Agricultural Officer (CAO), can issue the fertilizers distribution licenses from his office so why to get No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Secretariat.

“I was surprised to notice that a huge dump of file is laying in the secretariat for clearance and I have directed, the concerned Directorates to dispatch back the file to concerned CAOs. The CAOs have been authorized to take action and issue the licenses”, Mir added.

The Minister said that even if decision is taken today how season of that respective year can be brought back when the fertilizer was actually required by the farmers. He said that it was an Anti-farmer Act where under farmer was made to suffer and approach Secretariat for petty issue.

He issued orders that henceforth the Chief Agriculture Officer should exercise their powers without approaching Secretariat for issuance of fertilizers to the farmers on spot.

He also said that the persons responsible for this abnormal delay in keeping 250 files pending during last 4 years will be identified and law will take its own course while dealing with such persons.