Kerala   

Relief measures to be monitored

Staff Reporter

Chief Minister says Government will examine real cause of suicide by farmers

KANNUR : Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said the Government will examine whether its relief measures reach the beneficiaries, including farmers.

``Civil servants should function as public servants,'' Mr. Achuthanandan told an audience, largely comprising government officials, while inaugurating the renovated District Collectorate here on Friday. If the officials functioned without grasping the Government's actions aimed at providing relief to the people, especially farmers who had been hit by the Union Government's ``wrong'' import policies, the relief measures would not reach the beneficiaries, he said.

Appreciating the modern computerised facilities established at the renovated Collectorate as part of the Modernisation Government Programme (MGP), Mr. Achuthanandan said the computer and other modern facilities alone could not ensure better service to the people.

On computerisation

``People may not get all the benefits they rightfully deserve just because computerised facilities have been set up at the Collectorate under the MGP,'' he said. As computers had no life of their own, the work of officials operating them was more important, he said. However modern the facilities were what ultimately would count was the sympathy of the officials towards the public, he added.

The Chief Minister said the Government wanted the employees to perform in such a way as to convince both the Government and the public that their demands including those for rectifying anomalies in their service conditions were rightful. In the context of continuing incidents of farmers' suicides even after various relief measures, the Government would examine the real causes behind them, he said.

Tax collection

Delivering the presidential address, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran said that efforts would be accelerated to collect taxes from apartments, luxury buildings and `kalyanamandapams.' He said the revenue collection from luxury structures accounted for less than 10 per cent of the total tax collection in the State. He said the Government was examining the proposal for restoring 960 posts of revenue staff terminated by the previous United Democratic Front Government. Staff shortage was a major hurdle to the efforts of the Revenue Department to collect taxes, he added.

The Revenue Minister said the Union Government had been submitted a project for modernising 200 village offices. Basic facilities would be set up at the village offices, he added.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy, A.P. Abdullakutty, MP, MLAs K. Sudhakaran, M. Prakashan, C.K.P. Padmanabhan, K.K. Shylaja, K.P. Mohanan, P. Jayarajan and Ramachandran Kadannappally, were among those who offered felicitation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kerala High Court quashes ban on Coca-Cola, Pepsi
Plea on pig breeding centre
Need for efficiency of public services
Relief measures to be monitored
Doctors allay fears over chikungunya
Honouring a cultural ambassador
Spate of burglaries in city
Five officers of Observer Course awarded `Wings'
Farmer dies after consuming poison
Youth hangs himself after friend's death
Next issue
Highlighting farmers' plight
Briefly

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu