Receiving assurance from officers of Social Welfare Department to dispose of all pending complaints, pertaining to the Department, within two months, the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) was informed that 207 complaints/ enquiries, out of 431, besides one Regular Department Action (RDA) have been disposed of so far.The assurance was given to the Commission at a meeting, chaired by Chief Vigilance Commissioner here today. The meeting was convened to review the progress of the corruption related complaints received by different wings of the Department from time to time including those referred to it by the Vigilance Organization.Special Secretary, Social Welfare, Mir Tariq, Secretary SVC, Jatinder Singh, Deputy Director SWD, Kashmir, Tabasum Kamli, Under Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Manager SC/ST Dev Corporation besides other senior officers from SVC and Social Welfare Department were present in the meeting.
The Commission was informed that the payments to the beneficiaries of 10 districts, registered with the Social Welfare Department (SWD) under various social security schemes, are being made electronically and deposited directly into their accounts while this process for remaining 12 districts would be Adhaar based and completed within next two months. It was also informed that pre and post-matric scholarships are being deposited directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiary students and the websites of the social welfare and other subordinate departments are updated regularly.Enjoining upon the officers to expedite action on remaining complaints and enquires, the Commission directed the department to appoint inquiry officers as per requirement and ensure that pendency is cleared in a time bound manner. The Commission asked the officers to nominate an official for reconciliation of complaints with Vigilance Organisation so as to remove discrepancies, which have come to notice during discussion.
Expressing grave concern over the rapid inflow of complaints, which the Commission is receiving against the engagement of Anganwari Workers, the Commission suggested to explore the ways and means for streamlining the selection process so that selection is made without causing confusion regarding the eligibility of candidates for engagement as Anganwari Workers viz a viz jurisdiction of hamlet in a village. The officers of SWD were informed that several complaints regarding alleged illegal engagement of Anganwari Workers are being received in absence of well defined jurisdiction of hamlet. The Special Secretary SWD informed that the issue will be resolved in consultation with Revenue department and advertisements for inviting application for engagement of Anganwari Workers will be clear to avoid any such confusion in future.The Commission also observed that the inflow of complaints regarding a non-transparent procedure being followed in procurement of ration items for Anganwari centres and in certain cases dry ration is being issued in place of cooked meals.Instructing to follow strictly the guidelines and norms prescribed by Centre and State Governments for implementation of welfare and social security schemes in the State, the Commission said that violation of guidelines and norms by any official will warrant legal and disciplinary action.