Loksatta District Index programme: Scientific evaluation encourages those who do good work in govt, says Fadnavis

Assuring that the government’s efforts are not only towards creating islands of development in the state but also to achieve balanced development, Fadnavis said that the state is moving in that direction.

The Indian  Express Group’s Marathi daily “Loksatta” evaluates the performance of each district in the state under various sectors such as education, health and industry in a scientific manner and honours the districts that perform well. Praising the initiative, Fadnavis said that next year, the “CM Dashboard” initiative will be able to partner with “Loksatta District Index”.

Underlining the importance of such initiatives, Fadnavis said, “In the government, those who do good or bad work are weighed with the same yardstick. Those who do good work are not praised and those who do bad work are not punished. But since the district is being honoured by a third-party organization like ‘Loksatta’ for the work done by the government system, a sense of competition emerges in the districts, which is a good thing.”

“During the government’s 100-day programme, the working of 10,000 offices across the state will be evaluated by a third-party organisation, Quality Council of India,” the chief minister said.

Stating that the government’s effort is to achieve the goal of balanced development without creating any development islands such Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Fadnavis said, “The country’s largest steel hub is being built in Gadchiroli and industries are being set up in Nagpur, Dhule, Washim and Palghar. The backward sections are being connected to Mumbai-Pune by the Samruddhi Highway and the Shaktipeeth Highway is also going to be built.”

“The country’s largest port — Vadhavan — will take shape in Palghar, while an international airport and a Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train station will be built in the same area,” Fadnavis said.

Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Council, gave guidance on ‘The path of a developed India’. Loksatta Editor Girish Kuber gave the introductory speech.