By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 25 Dec: Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh (Retd) honoured five District Magistrates with the Outstanding District Magistrate Award-2022 at the Raj Bhavan on the occasion of Good Governance Day, here, today. These District Magistrates comprised Haridwar’s Vinay Shankar Pandey, Nainital’s Dhiraj Singh Garbyal, Pauri’s Dr. Ashish Chauhan, Rudraprayag’s Mayur Dixit and Chamoli’s Himanshu Khurana.
On this occasion, the Governor also released Raj Bhavan’s half-yearly magazine, ‘Devbhoomi Samvad’. This magazine is a compilation of various programmes of the Governor and his speeches. Devbhoomi Samvad has been edited by Deputy Director, Information, Dr Nitin Upadhyay, and co-edited by Sanju Prasad Dhyani.
In today’s programme organised on the occasion of Good Governance Day, Lt-General Singh congratulated the awarded officers. He said that district administration has an important role in ensuring good governance. It is the most important stage in implementing the schemes of the government in a better way. The awarded officers had given their best contribution in this regard.
“All of you have played an important role in solving the problems of the public with awareness and honesty,” the Governor stated. He called upon the District Magistrates to work in the same way in future also.
The Governor said that the objective of good governance is to ensure inclusive and all-round progress. Former Prime Minister, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was considered a great leader, an extraordinary personality as well as an icon of good governance, always believed that progress could be achieved through holistic efforts. Only through this could the person standing at the end of the queue could benefit.
Lt-General Singh emphasised that there is a need for a direct, emotional connect between the administration and the public to ensure top to bottom and bottom to top governance. The problems of the public can be solved only through the joint efforts of hardworking and alert officers and their teams. He claimed that there are many such capable officers available. He admitted that there are many challenges, at present, but reminded these could be overcome through collective efforts.
He was certain that through such efforts, India would be able to achieve the goal of becoming Vishwa Guru. He reminded that technology is a powerful means of empowering citizens and should be increasingly used.
On this occasion, Secretary to the Governor, Dr Ranjit Kumar Sinha reminded that it was for the first time, due to the inspiration and initiative of the Governor, District Magistrates are being honoured for the successful implementation of public welfare schemes, innovative experiments and excellent work in the districts. Earlier, there was no arrangement to reward the District Magistrates, separately.
Secretary, Administration, Vinod Kumar Suman disclosed that applications were received from the districts for the Best District Magistrate Award-2022. A presentation was given by the District Magistrates before the High Level Committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, after which the above names were recommended after the approval of the Governor and the Chief Minister. Secretary SN Pandey, Additional Secretary Lalit Mohan Rayal, Additional Secretary Karmendra Singh, Deputy Director, Information, Dr Nitin Upadhyay and other officers and employees were present on the occasion.
