The government will see to it that the memorandums given by MLAs on people’s issues will get an action taken report within 15 days, on the lines of a mechanism in vogue in Parliament for its members.
‘’The govt will issue strict orders in this regard,’’ said CM Oommen Chandy, responding to the complaints raised by the MLAs cutting across political affiliations through a first question on the first day of the Assembly monsoon session’s Question Hour on Monday. The suggestion for a state-level mechanism was put forth by Benny Behanan (Congress).
Chandy said that the government had simplified many rules and procedures after coming to power, on realising that most of the existing rules in governance were really stumbling blocks in good governance and reaching out to the people effectively. “Many more rules and procedures have to be simplified. One cannot simply blame officialdom alone for the delay. Many rules are having such a nature that nothing could be done,’’ the CM said. “The govt has made an innovative move through the implementation of the Right to Services Act last year. 56 depts/institutions are offering the services now. In the case of the Revenue Dept, issuance of many certificates have been made online. So far, an approximate 20 lakh certificates have been issued,’’ Chandy revealed.
However, Govt Chief Whip P C George was of the view that most of the govt initiatives had not reached even the level of many MLAs, not to mention the grass roots level offices. Chandy attested the impression but pointed out that owing to squabbles at the local level, grama sabhas were not that effective.
Members also joined to echo their spirit for the cause of Malayalam as official language.
Tributes Paid
The House paid glowing tributes to Lonappan Nambadan, former minister and parliamentarian, who passed away recently.
After making the obituary reference, Speaker G Karthikeyan led the House members to raise in reverence and remain silent for a couple of minutes, as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
