Focus on connection with citizens, PM tells ministries; no celebration of 11th year

NEW DELHI: In a span of just a month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has twice taken top central government bureaucrats and state chief secretaries by surprise by flagging public grievances that had reached him directly.

On April 30, secretaries and chief secretaries attending a meeting under Pragati — the performance audit PM holds periodically — were surprised when Modi raised shortcomings in implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission , an ambitious scheme to reach piped water to all households. On Wednesday, he again left them amazed when, during a review of the functioning of real estate regulators , he shared feedback that files in many RERA offices don't move unless “vyavastha”, a popular Hindu euphemism for pleasing the authorities, has been made.

Senior officials said the two meetings, apart from providing a peek into the PM's continuing connect with the grassroots, were also symbolic of the government’s decision to focus on problems which are holding up last-mile delivery of well-intentioned schemes. “The push is towards on-ground engagement, where ministries and departments are to conduct focused drives, enrolment camps, and beneficiary interactions to strengthen access and awareness,” a senior govt source said.

This also helps explain, sources said, why the 11th anniversary of the Modi govt passed without large-scale events or publicity campaigns. “The spirit is not of celebration but of connection. The idea is to understand what more needs to be done and to do it better,” a government functionary said, adding that the PM has encouraged ministries to mark the milestone by “listening and connecting”.

This marks a shift away from the publicity campaign and advertisement blitz that has traditionally marked anniversaries. “Ministries have instead been encouraged to use existing platforms and field networks to communicate achievements organically and prioritise authentic citizen’s voices over packaged messaging,” the official said.

Senior officials said the PM’s observations on JJM and RERA were a clear signal to everyone to ensure that public grievances were redressed and impediments in the way of completion and saturation were removed.

“He made it clear that addressing public grievances is a top priority and cannot be treated as routine paperwork,” another senior bureaucrat said. In fact, the PM did not agree with the proposition of a chief secretary that they don’t review the performance of a regulatory authority. He asked all chief secretaries to regularly review the performance of RERAs.

TOI has learnt that at last month’s Pragati meeting , Modi had directed the Jal Shakti ministry to dispatch 100-200 officers for on-ground verification of grievances. Sources said a large share of complaints related to no supply of water even after laying of pipelines, homes still waiting for taps within the premises, and bad quality water. Post this direction, the government has deployed 100 central nodal officers’ (CNO) teams to inspect 183 JJM projects across 135 districts and the details of this were shared by cabinet secretary T V Somanathan at Wednesday’s meeting.