CM warns officials against making citizens go from one office to another for their work

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has warned officials against making citizens go from one office to another for their work.

“I will not tolerate officials making people run around. Making citizens go from office to office is unacceptable,” he said while addressing officials at the Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting in Mysuru on Monday (November 10).

“You have assumed your posts to serve the public. Do not make people run around,” he warned.

Recalling that he had already instructed officials not to remain at the district level and instead stay at the taluk level and listen to people’s grievances, Mr. Siddaramaiah directed Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikant Reddy to submit a report to him on the officials who have not followed the instruction.

The Chief Minister said many people from Mysuru travel all the way to Bengaluru to meet him. “If I am not there, they stay till night. Most do not come with personal issues; they come with revenue-related problems. If district-level officials had resolved these matters in Mysuru, citizens would not need to travel to Bengaluru,” he said, before cautioning officials that he will not tolerate the practice of making people wander from one place to another.

Earlier, soon after the KDP meeting had begun at the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat premises, Mr. Siddaramaiah had issued instructions that should action be initiated against the officers or staff who were absent at the meeting.

Transfers

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, expressed his disgust at the practice of officials bringing transfer recommendations from party workers close to him. “This is a bad practice. I will not tolerate it,” he said, adding that this will bring a bad name to both the party workers as well as the government.

Education

He also expressed his dissatisfaction towards the fact that Mysuru district’s ranking in education had fallen from the seventh position to the fourteenth position in Karnataka. Mysuru is a historically known centre of education. It should not have slipped from the seventh to the fourteen position. The situation should be corrected at the earliest, he said.

He directed the Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) in Mysuru to prepare a blueprint for improving Mysuru’s results in SSLC and PUC exams. “You must show good results during your term. I will be observing,” Mr. Siddaramaiah added.

Development works

Reminding officials that in the previous KDP meeting, he had instructed them to speed up Mysuru’s development works within the stipulated deadline, he underscored the unsatisfactory progress in the district.

Along with development work, officials should listen to the grievances of the public and provide them with solutions, he said.

“If Deputy Commissioners pay surprise visits to tahsildars’ offices, the negligent staff can be caught,” he said, while asking why no reports or complaints had been received so far in this regard.

Meanwhile, Mr. Reddy informed all at the KDP meeting that electrification had been completed in 16 of the 17 hilly regions in the district, as per the Chief Minister’s instructions.

Also, locations had been identified for hospitals, hostels, schools and anganwadis at 109 places under the Revenue Department and 68 places under Mysuru Development Authority (MDA).

While 150 anganwadi workers and 580 anganwadi helpers had been appointed, applications had been invited to fill 50 remaining anganwadi worker’s posts in the district.