Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Large turnout for public contact programme

Staff Reporter

Seventy out of 273 cases settled

Grievances galore: People waiting to submit petitions at a public contact programme organised by the Revenue and Police departments in the city on Friday. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When Domini Abraham boards the flight to Oman on Saturday after an extended leave, a sense of frustration would hang heavy on his mind. For the last two months, he has been running from pillar to post for getting an allegedly fake title deed annulled. The deed had been `fraudulently issued' in the name of his property at Muttathara in his absence.

"I met various officials including the District Collector and apprised them about my problem, but haven't received any help," he said, disappointment writ large on his face. "I am leaving tomorrow and this is my last attempt to salvage my property," he told The Hindu.

Mr. Abraham was one among the hundreds of people who turned up at the Taluk office on Friday morning for a public contact programme organised jointly by the Revenue and the Police departments. For most of the petitioners, the contact programme with some of the top-level officials of the departments provided an opportunity to air their long-pending grievances, most of these related to civil issues.

According to a senior official at the Taluk office, the interactive programme had been organised on the basis of the number of petitions received by the departments. The petitions would be verified and later sent to the departments concerned for immediate follow-up action, he said.

Since the majority of the representations pertained to title deeds, the Revenue Department had opened five counters at the office premises to collect petitions from the 31 villages in the district. There were long queues in front of these counters, but the lone grievance cell set up by the Police Department wore a deserted look.

The City Police Commissioner, Balram Kumar Upadhyay, who was present at the venue, attributed the decline in the number of petitions to the regular meetings with the public at individual police stations every month. "Besides, I also receive nearly ten petitions every day," he said.

As many as 273 petitions were received as a part of the public contact programme. Out of these, 263 related to the Revenue Department and the remaining 10 to the police. Seventy representations were settled during the course of the programme.

The RDO, Sasikumar, Tahsildar P.N. Venu, the Additional District Magistrate, M. Badarudeen, and the Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Vijayan, officiated at the day-long programme.

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