Gandhinagar, Thursday: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today exhorted each taluka in the State to prepare its own development plan, run its own administration, establish its own unique identity and participate in a healthy competition with one another under the Aapno Taluko-Vibrant Taluka (ATVT) scheme.
He said the State-level Team Gujarat is now being recognized as a successful model of development for its administrative style of functioning vis-à-vis other States in India at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. It was made possible by making each of the 26 districts as an independent unit of planning and decision making during the outgoing decade.
Addressing about 600 taluka officers of eight districts in the Saurashtra & Kutch region at a seminar at Rajkot through video-conferencing from Gandhinagar, he wished the same competitive spirit percolated down to each of the 225 talukas as a successful administrative unit in the State as per Vibrant Taluka Vision-2015.
Mr. Modi asked the taluka officials to solve the people's problems as far as possible at the taluka level itself and make a success of the ambitious and revolutionary policy launched for decentralization of administration. He said that administration is for facing problems, obstacles, gaps and ever-changing priorities and then to adjust, find quick solutions, earn people's confidence and credibility. It is a day-and-night affair, for everyday of the week, all round the year. He recalled that all the 225 talukas have shown their capacity to hold mega events like ‘Krishi Mela' in the past and he expressed that the talukas could well achieve other feats too, in future.
He said that there is no dearth of resources in the state. It is not just creating physical infrastructure but also successful implementation of different schemes. There is work to be done in education, health, social fields. If one taluka does one good thing every week, he said, 225 taluka could collectively do 1,000 wonders in a month.
The deliberations were held in 22 groups at Rajkot with Minister of State for Planning Saurabh Patel, Chief Secretary A.K. Joti and Principal Secretary (Revenue) P. Paneervel, joined by district-level officers, gave details of the scheme.The Chief Minister is scheduled to address the taluka officers of north Gujarat region at Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar tomorrow.