(a) whether the attention of the Government has been
drawn to the news-item captioned `Inspection reveals most
information counters defunct` appearing in the `Hindustan Times`
dated September 27, 2000;
(b) if so, whether the Information and Facilitation Counters
in various Ministries are not funtioning properly; and
(c) the steps taken to improve the effciency in service at
the counters?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS
AND PUBLIC GRIEVANCES IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC
GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS(SHRI ARUN SHOURIE)
(a) :Yes, Sir.
(b)&(c): Teams of officers of the Department of Administrative
Reforms and Public Grievances have carried out on-the-spot
evaluation of the functioning of Information and Facilitation
Counters during March to June, 2000. These teams reported that,
while overall functioning of the IFCs can be termed satisfactory,
certain deficiencies were also observed. The specific
observations of the teams were communicated to the Contact
Officers of the concerned Ministries/Departments for taking
necssary corrective action. This is part of an on-going process
for evaluating and improving the counters.