EDITORIAL
Govt must find out why citizens’ grievances aren’t getting resolved in the normal way
Yesterday, the government resumed its Sarkar Tumchya Dari (government at your doorsteps) programme, with a new edition at Ponda. The programme was held across Goa in 2021 ahead of the last Assembly elections. Incidentally, Ponda will go to the polls within two to three months to fill the vacancy created due to the death of former chief minister Ravi Naik in mid-October last year.
Political commentators will say that the programme is well timed, as Goa will also have municipal elections soon. No doubt, the objective of the initiative appears good—going to the people with officers and elected representatives will definitely give much relief to those who are unable to get justice.
The initiative was introduced under the Swayampurna Goa Mission to reduce administrative bottlenecks and address public grievances on the spot, with the participation of 40 state and central government departments and officials handling applications and pending files directly. The core objective was to bridge the gap between the administration and the public by providing immediate, transparent services and resolving pending issues on the spot. The Chief Minister himself listens to grievances in the presence of senior officers from different departments. Irrespective of the intentions of politicians, the programme will also put pressure on officers who have failed in their duty to address the grievances of citizens.
In 2021, Sarkar Tumchya Dari was quite a success. The government was facing severe anti-incumbency. Against this backdrop, the government organised several programmes amidst allegations that these were PR events for the ruling party. There is no doubt that the ruling party gained mileage from such programmes then, at a huge cost to the public exchequer. In 1999, then chief minister Luizinho Faleiro had a similar programme called Janata Darbar.
The Sarkar Tumchya Dari programme can be viewed from a different perspective. Going by the response in 2021, it was quite evident that several people who rushed to get small matters resolved had not got justice in the normal way of governance. Why do people go for such programmes where the Chief Minister and his colleagues are present? The answer is simple: hope and guarantee. They know that their long-pending works will be addressed favourably. The question is: why was their work not done when they approached the respective government department? In many departments, there is not enough space for them to sit after they are told that “sir has gone on an inspection or gone to the secretariat or gone on election duty”, etc. They wait with the hope that they will get some relief on the officer’s return. Most of the time, a second trip is inevitable. And we still talk of “good governance”.
If citizens are getting relief from the Sarkar Tumchya Dari events, then it is definitely positive. This, however, should not stop the government from doing some introspection. When we have a heavily loaded administrative staff, which goes on increasing every year, why do citizens face issues when they visit government offices? There is a need to conduct surprise visits to know the ground reality. If the government is serious, it must go to the root cause of why people have to come with their grievances to programmes such as Sarkar Tumchya Dari. The CM has said that, as per his past experience, 80% of the people participating in the programme were satisfied with the government’s initiative. This could mean that the officials the public approached failed the people. Will the government act against the officials who make the aam aadmi run from pillar to post?
