CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday advised the District Collectors and police officers to resolve grassroots level people's issues to save them the pain of travelling to the State secretariat in Chennai for seeking redressal. He directed authorities to attend to the petitions submitted by the people compassionately and resolve the issues at the earliest.
"A large number of people have been petitioning the State Secretariat with much expectations about resolving their issues just because their problems are not resolved at the grassroots level where they originate. People knock the doors of the Secretariat since the government administration at district, taluk, firka levels fail to make arrangements for resolving their issues then and there," the Chief Minister said chairing the first conference of Collectors and top police officials after the DMK government assumed office.
Interestingly, on September 14, 2021, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu made a similar suggestion to the District Collectors. "The problems faced by the people at the district, taluk, and village levels should be resolved there itself. Failing to do this resulted in piling up thousands of petitions every day at the State secretariat. At present, shields are given to Collectors who dispose of the highest number of petitions from people. Hereafter, we should do otherwise - Give shield to the district from where the lowest number of petitions reach the secretariat," the Chief Secretary had said.
The Chief Minister, in his introductory remarks at the Collectors conference, asked them to express their views freely and without any hesitation besides making suggestions to the government. He also promised that the State government would extend full cooperation to the initiatives of the Collectors and Police officers.
Within 10 months of assuming office, this government had faced two waves of Covid-19 infection and had managed to halt the spread of the virus with the cooperation of the district administrations. Giving a detailed account of the key achievements of his government, the Chief Minister said, "We have turned the government administration towards implementing Dravidian model policies and devised schemes and programmes in that direction."
Referring to the participation of forest department officials in this conference for the first time to discuss climate change and its effect, the Chief Minister said "This is an initiative to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu from 24 per cent to 33 per cent within 10 years. The entire district administration should move towards this direction."
Stating that he would not compromise on maintaining law and order since that is a vital factor for making Tamil Nadu a $1 trillion economy. "This government will never allow crimes against women and children, economic offences, etc. Stringent action should be taken against those who act against communal harmony in the State. The police department should not show any partiality in taking action against Kangaroo courts, land grabbing complaints, etc and should put down anti-social elements which disturb public peace with an iron hand."
Reiterating that Naan Mudhalvan scheme is his pet project, Stalin said, "I entrust my dream project to you. This government will stand by the officials who discharge their duties in a transparent manner and with dedication."