KOCHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday admonished government employees for holding up files, thereby delaying and denying their services to the public, damaging the Left government’s good work and credibility.
“Kerala is known as a state free of corruption. However, a section of government employees in the offices do not cooperate and damages the credibility and the good name of the government and the system. The employees in our offices must cooperate with the public and the state government. They should understand that their purpose is to assist the general public,” the chief minister said while inaugurating the district-level local self-government adalat in Ernakulam.
Pinarayi said over 900 government services are available online. ‘KSmart’ or Kerala Solution for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation, a data-centric solution for Local Self Governments in Kerala to ensure good governance for citizens, employees and anyone seeking services through local bodies, was introduced to provide speedy services.
“These initiatives aim to help the common people. However, some habits of the officials need to be changed to ensure that services are provided to the public at the right time and in the right way,” he said.
Since coming to power in his first term in 2016, Pinarayi has been urging the government employees to provide better services to the public saying, “Each file has a life behind it.” The CM’s recent statement shows that there is no change in the government employees’ lethargic attitude despite repeated chidings.
Meanwhile, the CM appreciated the efforts taken by the officials during crises like the Wayanad landslides.
“There are officials who worked the whole day and night and even on Sundays to help the people of Wayanad. The directions from the local self-governments are important in avoiding such incidents and deaths. Vilangad is an example,” he added.
Minister for Local Self-Government M B Rajesh said that strict action would be taken against officials who delay the processing of files. “We have been receiving complaints from the public against the employees who do not cooperate with them. We have also collected the details. Strict action will be taken against such employees in the offices,” he said.
Minister for Industries and Law, P Rajeeve, MP Hibi Eden, MLAs T J Vinod, P V Sreenijan, K Babu, and others attended the event held in Kochi.
Pension will be delivered at home, says Minister Rajesh
KOCHI: Minister for Local Self Government M B Rajesh said that social security pension for the elderly would be delivered at home for those who live alone and are not able to travel to collect the amount due to bad health. He was responding to the complaint filed by 67-year-old Varghese requesting to deliver the amount at home as he was suffering from age-related health issues and hearing loss. Though he had filed a complaint with the Angamaly Municipal Corporation earlier, no action was taken. Following the complaint filed at the Adalat, the minister handed over the order directly to Varghese.