Nitish Kumar presides over high-level review meeting of I&PRD

PATNA: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today presided over a high-level review meeting of the Information and Public Relation Department (I&PRD) and directed officials to take to social media and other modern tools to disseminate information to people about schemes and works of the state government.

The I&PRD should be strengthened to make it more effective for dissemination of information related to state government's works, schemes and projects among the people to enable them to take maximum benefits, Kumar told officials at the review meeting, Principal Secretary (I&PRD) Pratyaya Amrit told reporters.

The Chief Minister directed the I&PRD brass to take to social media and other medium of publicity to connect with the people, Amrit said, adding Kumar has asked them to prepare a detailed report about the department's function and submit it at the earliest.

Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and Chief Minister's Principal Secretary D S Gangwar, besides senior officials of the I&PRD, attended the meeting.

At another meeting, the Chief Minister heard a presentation on the rules of the Bihar Public Grievance Redressal Act, 2015 and directed that officials at all levels be imparted training for redressal of grievances, besides making arrangements for receipt of grievances through call centres and electronic medium.

The application process should be simplified so that the common man takes maximum advantage of their rights for redressal of grievances, he said and asked the Chief Secretary to ensure that the Bihar Public Grievance Redressal Act, 2015 becomes part of agenda of review meetings with district officials.

The Bihar Public Grievance Redressal Act, 2015, would be rolled out from May 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, a judicial commission headed by retired Patna High Court judge Madhavendra Sharan submitted a report to the Chief Minister on the Forbesganj police firing incident on June 3, 2011, in which four persons of the minority community were killed.

The state government would study the report and take necessary action, an official release said, adding the report would be tabled in the state legislature within six months of submission of it by the judicial commission.