CHANDIGARH:  Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Gen. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues, has asked the senior officers of the Chandigarh Administration to further strengthen the Public Grievances Mechanisms in their respective organizations and to improve Service Delivery Systems to benefit the people.

Accompanied by Jean Rodrigues, the Administrator gave a patient hearing to the deputations and individuals and passed necessary directions, to the concerned officers to sort out the issues in a time bound manner. This process brought a major relief to the disadvantaged people especially the handicapped and destitute women who presented their problems and found instant solutions.

Giving special emphasis to develop strategies for the empowerment of women and people in distress, General Rodrigues called for instituting counseling services, in public dealing offices, to extend necessary guidance and advice to needy people who are ignorant about the laid down procedures, to find remedial measures for their problems. He said that a helpline has already been started, in the Empowerment Center recently opened in Sector 19-D, Chandigarh and asked for the further strengthening counseling services by the experts and social activists.

 Expressing concern of the growing number of complaints in different cooperative societies, General Rodrigues directed the Deputy Commissioner for expediting the issues within a week and to initiate legal proceedings against defaulters and offenders.

Reacting to the demand of a Chandigarh Transport Union deputation, for amending the order on reserving seats for women in CTU buses, General Rodrigues agreed but asked them to give an undertaking to the effect that the CTU staff must undertake that the seats are vacated by male passengers, for women, when relevant. He also told them to work, with commitment and dedication, in a partnership mode, to make the CTU one of the best undertakings in the Country. He shared his concern over the inconvenience caused to the public by the recent strike by CTU staff and made it clear that all the decisions for improvement in the bus service are taken as per rules and in the larger interest of the public. The CTU Union Members assured their positive approach in bringing in a further improvement in the service.

Interacting with the Shopkeeper Associations and Beopar Mandal, General Rodrigues told them to strengthen the concept of partnership & ownership, in their areas of operation to improve their business and public service. He said that there is a need of harmonizing the endeavour of creating efficient support services in the markets and other industrial and business establishments, through an effective coordination between the representatives of these bodies and official agencies.

While reviewing the progress of different developmental projects, General Rodrigues constituted a core group of officers comprising Secretary to Governor, Finance Secretary and Chief Engineer to find alternative sources of energy and promote the solar power concept, in the Union Territory, as a long-term solution to the energy problems.  He said that the process has already been started and asked the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation to study the scope of generating electricity from the cow dung and also organic manure for agriculture. He also asked the Special Secretary Finance to set up a team of experts for running homes for mentally challenged, crippled and street children coming up shortly, in a professional manner. He also discussed the status of various housing projects and dwelling units for different categories and asked the Chairman Chandigarh Housing Board to monitor the progress and examine the feasibility of setting up a low income scheme, in the Southern sectors.  He also took stock of the work on different components of Education City and asked for a detailed report. He emphasized the need of strengthening public-private partnership in this project.