'Lack of effort by govt employees to clear pending files', says Kerala CM

KOCHI: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday revisited the statement he made six years ago that each file has a life behind it and hence it should be dealt with in a humane way, and said despite several initiatives still there is lack of effort on the part of the government employees in clearing the pending files. 

Pinarayi reminded employees about his earlier statement in 2016 about files that are pending without settlement. "The efficiency shown by the employees of other states in settling files is not seen here. Many other states have frozen or cut down salaries while a few states have not implemented the recommendations of the Pay Commission, some others implemented the revised pay scale after years," he pointed out, speaking after inaugurating the Kerala NGO Union's diamond jubilee celebrations in Kochi.

He pointed out that the Kerala government has implemented pay revisions even though our treasury is not having enough funds. "The efficiency in the civil service needs to increase. Compared to other states, Kerala's civil service employees are satisfied. However, they should compensate for their satisfaction by delivering better services to the people. They should ensure that the files are cleared at a faster pace. What has been our progress in this objective? This has to be examined seriously," the Chief Minister said.

He said the government launched an intensive drive to settle pending files three months ago but the success has not been up to the desired levels. "The government provided all the support in this mission. But could complete only 50% of the files at the secretariat. Why? What happened? I'm not getting into all these because this is not the venue for a discussion on that. But, we need to understand that we are here to serve the people. The persons elected by the people and the civil service, who are entrusted to complete the tasks, should work together."

CM hailed the NGO Union in its effort to complete the 'Salary challenge' effectively despite widespread protests from various corners.  "It's the NGO Union that raised the slogan 'corruption free civil service' and worked for it. The union's efforts laid a strong foundation to achieve the state a top position in the list of the states with the least corruption," he added.