The Hindu : Kerala News : Secretaries, department heads will visit districts: Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Secretaries, department heads will visit districts: Chandy

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR, NOV. 23. The Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, has said that Government secretaries and heads of departments concerned will visit each district twice a year to address grievances of the people as the Government wants to continue the spirit of the mass contact programme as its style of functioning.

"The mass contact programme is not intended to be a one-day programme. This marks a new style of functioning which will be the hallmark of the Government,'' the Chief Minister said while inaugurating the mass contact programme here today.

The message that the Government wanted to convey through the programme was that those occupying positions of authority should be prepared to listen to the people's grievances.

The mass contact programme would come to an end on November 30, but the new style of functioning would continue, Mr. Chandy added.

Visit every six months

The Chief Minister said that the secretaries and heads of departments concerned had been instructed to visit each district every six months to address the problems of the people in continuation of the spirit of the mass contact programme. They would work in coordination with district-level officials to find practical solutions to grievances and complaints, he said.

Officials of departments that have transferred powers to three-tier local bodies should also exchange ideas with people's representatives in the local bodies in the initiative, he said.

Positive approach

Appreciating Government officials for their wholehearted cooperation with the district-level mass contact programmes, the Chief Minister said that the positive approach of the officials in handling individual grievances and petitions contradicted the general impression that they were apathetic to the people's problems.

Referring to the criticism against the mass contact programme, Mr. Chandy said that though he was open to positive criticism, he would continue the programme because it had given him enormous experience.

"I can now understand the things that I have not understood all these years in public life,'' he said.

As part of continuing the efforts to keep in touch with the people, he would continue to address their grievances from the Secretariat using telecommunication facilities. People could convey their grievances and complaints over phone to a core centre functioning in his offices.

The departments and offices concerned would be sent these grievances and complaints for their replies, he said.

He would personally examine each reply that was unfavourable to the complainant, he said adding that on major complaints he would personally communicate with complainants.

"The Government's motto is `Transparent Kerala','' the Chief Minister said.

Follow-up action

Mr. Chandy said that special facilities would be set up in his office and the districts to continue the follow-up action on the complaints and petitions pending settlement and those that were not considered in the mass contact programmes.

No complaint or petition would go unexamined, he said emphatically.

The Kannur MLA, K. Sudhakaran, presided over the function. The Tourism Minister, K.C. Venugopal, the Irikkur MLA, K.C. Joseph, the Kannur municipal chairperson, M.C. Sreeja, and the District Collector, K.S. Srinivas, were present at the function.

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