A meeting was held by Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai today in connection with the reform of the government.

Ministers,as,Dr.K.Sudhakar, Araga Jnanendra, B.A.Basavaraja, Retired Chief Secretary of the Government and Chairman of the Administrative Reform Commission,TM Vijaya Bhaskar, Development Commissioner and Chief Secretary to the Government,Vandita Sharma,Planning Department Additional Chief Secretary,Dr Shalini Rajneesh, DPAR Secretary, Hemalatha, CAUS Department (Administrative Reforms) Munish Mudgal,and others were present.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has instructed the officials to formulate criteria to introduce an annual ranking system to assess the performance of all the departments.

He was speaking at a meeting on administrative reforms at his home office ‘Krishna.’

Civic services should be made easily available to citizens by cutting down the layers of decision making. Petitions from the people should get a response within hours.

Accountability should be fixed at lower and higher levels. Some of the responsibilities of the Revenue department should be delegated to Gram Panchayats, Bommai said.

Joint Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries should be more empowered.Regional Commissioners should manage major irrigation and land acquisition issues.

About 40% of government work would be reduced if the Revenue department is reformed, Bommai opined.

Development projects like irrigation and public works should be completed within a time frame. State is suffering the highest losses due to failure in completing the projects in time, he said.

Bommai wanted change in rules and identify redundant laws, He asked the officials to clear the amount that has piled up in bank accounts due to not utilisation of funds allocated for various projects.

CHANDIGARH: Amid the rising COVID-19 cases, the Haryana government Monday banned large congregations such as rallies and protests, and extended existing restrictions including the closure of cinema halls and sports complexes to eight more districts, according to an official order.

The order issued by the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority (HSDMA) said the restrictions will be applicable till 5 am on January 19.

“Large congregations like all kinds of public meetings, rallies, protests, dharnas etc shall be prohibited in the state,” said the order.

The eight new districts where the restrictions will be applicable are Sirsa, Rewari, Jind, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh, Kaithal, Bhiwani and Hisar.

Earlier, these restrictions were imposed in Karnal, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Rohtak Jhajjar, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat.

Cinema halls, theaters and multiplexes shall remain closed, the earlier order issued on January 5 had stated.

“…Hence, restrictions imposed in Group ‘A’ districts (other 11 districts) vide order dated January 5, shall also be imposed in these (eight districts),” said the order.

Malls and markets will be allowed to open till 6 pm.

However, shops selling essential items like milk and medicine will be allowed to open at all times to enable them to serve the public at large, it said.

All sports complexes, swimming pools and stadia shall remain closed except when being used for training of sportspersons for participation in national and international events, the order said.

All entertainment parks and B2B exhibitions are prohibited, it said.

According to the existing order, government and private offices, except for emergency/essential services, have been advised to function with 50 per cent staff attendance.

This is now applicable to the eight more districts.

Haryana has witnessed a big spike in Covid cases over the past nearly a fortnight.

Districts including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ambala, Panchkula are among the worst-affected.

There was no letup in COVID-19 surge in Haryana, with 5,736 fresh infections and five fatalities being reported on Monday.

According to the health department’s daily bulletin, the state also reported 26 fresh cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the tally of such infections in the state rose to 162, out of which 17 are active while the rest have been discharged.

To check the spread of the viral infection, the state government banned people eligible for vaccination but not fully vaccinated from entering shopping malls, cinema halls, restaurants and grain markets, among other crowded places, starting January 1.

A night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am is already in force in the state.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Monday recorded 33,470 new coronavirus cases, 10,918 less than the previous day, taking its tally to 69,53,514, while eight fresh deaths linked to the infection pushed the toll to 1,41,647, the state health department said.

An official said Maharashtra also reported 31 new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, raising their count to 1,247.

Of the 31 new cases of the highly contagious variant, 28 were reported from Pune city, two are from Pune rural and one from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial township.

With addition of new cases and deaths, the state’s COVID-19 tally jumped to 69,53,514, while the toll rose to 1,41,647, the department said.

Of the 33,470 new cases and eight deaths in the state, 13,648 infections and five fatalities were reported from Mumbai city alone.

The state had reported 44,388 COVID-19 cases and 12 fatalities on Sunday.

The number of recovered cases surged to 66,02,103 after 29,671 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, the department said.

Maharashtra’s coronavirus recovery rate is 94.95 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.03 per cent, the official said.

According to the official, Maharashtra’s tally of active cases has shot up to 2,06,046 due to the widening gap between new and recovered infections.

As many as 12,46,729 people are in home quarantine and another 2,505 in institutional quarantine in the state.

The official said 1,73,766 coronavirus tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative tally to 7,07,18,911.

The Mumbai region, which comprises the metropolis and its satellite cities, recorded 23,811 new cases, followed by the Pune region (5608), Nashik ( 1421), Nagpur (1213), Kolhapur (446), Aurangabad (395), Latur (349 ) and the Akola region (227), a health department bulletin said.

The Mumbai region reported 6 fresh fatalities followed by two in the Pune region, it said.

Other regions did not report any fresh COVID-19 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, speaking in Jalna, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic has started and it is expected to peak by January-end.

He also said the 14-day quarantine period has been halved to seven days.

He appealed to the people to strictly follow COVID-19 norms to keep themselves and others safe.

“The third wave of the pandemic has started. It is expected to peak by January-end,” Tope told reporters.

He expressed concerns over many political leaders not adhering to the pandemic protocols despite the rise in cases in Maharashtra.

Quoting an Urdu proverb, ‘Jaan hai to Jahaan hai’, Tope said everyone needed to follow the norms put in place to stem the coronavirus spread.

“Due to the spike in cases, the closure of schools is necessary to protect children from coronavirus. People should support the restrictions announced by the government,” he added.

Tope said he had spoken with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya during a virtual meeting about the pandemic situation on Monday.

In this meeting, utilisation of funds under the ECRP 2 (Emergency COVID Response Plans) for preparedness and prevention of the pandemic was discussed, he said.

The minister said only four per cent of the total 17,000 oxygenated beds in Maharashtra remain occupied as of now.

Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 69,53,514; fresh cases 33,470; death toll 1,41,647; recoveries 66,02,103; active cases 2,06,046, total tests 7,07,18,911.