Nagpur, Dec 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) Maharashtra Minister for Cultural Affairs and Information Technology Ashish Shelar on Sunday informed the Legislative Council that the state government is strengthening good governance, transparent administration and citizen-centric service delivery through the extensive use of technology, with the objective of building a "Progressive and Developed Maharashtra" that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the expectations of its citizens.
The minister was responding to a calling attention motion moved by Council member Shrikant Bharatiya on the need to make the administrative machinery more efficient and outcome-oriented.
Minister Shelar provided detailed information on the various initiatives being implemented by the state government to reinforce good governance, transparency and citizen-focused services.
He recalled the historic decision taken by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in 2014 to approve a law related to good governance in the very first Cabinet meeting of his tenure. He said that since then, a multi-dimensional framework has been established to evaluate administrative efficiency across departments.
The calling attention motion flagged five key expectations from the governance system: evaluation by reputed private institutions, direct feedback from citizens, implementation of the Maharashtra Citizen Experience Index, departmental performance evaluation, and a structured decision-making mechanism for failed or stalled projects.
Responding to these points, Minister Shelar detailed around 16 different measures currently being implemented by the state government. These include annual performance evaluation of officers and employees, outcome-based assessment of work, close monitoring of project timelines and expected outcomes, and the introduction of competitive benchmarks to improve work culture across departments. He also informed the House that district-wise assessment of governance is being carried out through the ‘District Good Governance Index’, which is based on as many as 161 indicators.
The minister noted that December 25, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is observed as ‘Good Governance Day’ across the state, and a comprehensive Good Governance Report is published on this occasion every year. He highlighted that technology has been extensively deployed to enhance administrative speed and accountability, including live tracking systems, structured feedback mechanisms, and monitoring of major infrastructure and development projects under the ‘Gati Shakti’ initiative. He added that the ‘Right to Service Act’ has empowered citizens by providing them with legally enforceable rights to time-bound services and grievance redressal.
Minister Shelar further stated that the concept of ‘Viksit Maharashtra’ is being implemented in alignment with the national vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’. This approach focuses on public participation, large-scale surveys, inter-departmental consultations, capacity-building initiatives, and skill development of government personnel under the ‘Mission Karmayogi’ programme.
He said that several structural reforms, including expanded e-governance initiatives, clear rules governing transfers and appointments, and service-oriented personnel programmes, have already been rolled out. In the next phase, the government plans to operationalise geo-tagging of projects, integrated monitoring of funds, projects and public complaints through the Chief Minister’s Dashboard, adoption of AI-enabled data analysis tools, and the introduction of third-party audit systems to further strengthen transparency and accountability.
Source: IANS
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