THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala chief secretary VP Joy, who is on a visit to Gujarat to study the CM’s Dashboard system for project implementation, on Thursday said the e-governance tool was amazing.
“It was a pleasure to understand the system. The dashboard is a good and comprehensive system for monitoring delivery of services and collecting citizens’ feedback among other features,” said Joy after the presentation. The Gujarat government offered a presentation to Joy and his staff officer Umesh N K in Gandhinagar.
Joy had sought a dashboard presentation from Gujarat counterpart Pankaj Kumar. In the letter, Joy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to visit Gujarat to study the dashboard for possible implementation in Kerala.
However Joy’s visit courted controversy as Opposition parties termed it as acceptance of Gujarat Model by the ruling CPM, which once derided it. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said the decision to send Joy to Gujarat was suspicious. “The CM need not take up public relations work for Modi. For Indians, Gujarat Model epitomises polarisation, dictatorship and fascism. Then on what basis is Kerala going to study Gujarat? Let CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury respond,” he said.
BJP state president K Surendran said the visit was proof Gujarat Model was better. “Pinarayi knew that the Kerala Model of development was a failure and the Gujarat Model should be accepted,” he said. Fisheries and Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian defended the visit saying there is nothing wrong in following Gujarat for a good initiative.