CM tells babus to spend one hour on public grievances

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Chandigarh, April 4

Days after BJP legislators flagged the issue of the “inaccessibility” of bureaucracy, the ML Khattar government cracked the whip, asking officers to dedicate one hour daily to redress public grievances.

Move comes after MLAs’ complaint

• Officers to remain available between 11 am and 12 noon daily on working days for the purpose of meeting the public for prompt redressal of their grievances and complaints
• Order issued after plaint of bureaucracy’s ‘inaccessibility’

In a bid to send out a strong message to the bureaucracy, especially at the district level, the state government asked the officers to “remain available between 11 am and 12 noon daily on working days for the purpose of meeting the public for prompt redressal of their grievances and complaints”.

“It has been observed that the general public finds it difficult to get their grievances redressed because of non-availability of senior officers in government offices. People have to visit the offices time and again for the redressal of their grievances,” the government order issued on Sunday said.

Now, even if the officer concerned is out of station, the next designated officer would redress the grievances.

During a series of meeting with the BJP top brass here recently, several MLAs and party functionaries had raised the issue of the “non-availability” of officers at Chandigarh and at the district level for the public.

It was also alleged that even legislators sometimes find it difficult to get in touch with bureaucrats for a follow-up on development works.

Although instructions for officers for meeting public already exist yet these are not followed in letter and spirit. With several officers holding multiple charges on account of shortage of officers, these orders are not strictly adhered to, said sources.