MAPUSA
With four ministers, Bardez turns out to be the hub of governance and most ministers prefer to meet their constituents at home.
Senior member of the BJP and Urban Development Minister, Francis D’Souza although hesitant on CM’s direction was of the view that many times the officers were made to stay long for meetings at minister/MLA’s residence.
“I think it’s a good move as officers are expected to be in the offices and attend to people’s needs,” D’Souza said.
According to Independent MLA and Revenue Minister, Rohan Khaunte, there was nothing wrong to try and see how a new system works.
“To provide good governance to people, we need to re-plan our issues and this move of the chief minister could be one the many new decisions in pipeline,” Khaunte said.
So will Janta Darbars be a panacea to chief minister’s recent direction to government officers? Water Resources Minister, Vinod Palyekar is the only minister in Bardez who holds a “janta durbar” (public meeting) with the public in the presence of officers at the deputy collector’s office in the government complex at Mapusa.
He said the chief minister’s direction does not affect his style of functioning and the “janta durbar” helps him to take care of people’s problems.
“The advantage of holding the meetings here is that almost all officers are located in the government complex. We can thrash out public issues in front of the officer concerned,” Palyekar said to The Goan. He said almost 150 to 200 people come to meet him with various grievances, which gets resolved immediately in the presence of the officers.
Palyekar meets the public in the first half of Thursday, every week.
Urban Development Minister, Francis D’Souza said it was necessary for him to meet the public at the deputy collector’s office as most of his work was done on a phone call. Revenue Minister, Rohan Khaunte said he was trying to put systems in place so that people can be provided time-bound service in his department.
“If we can provide all the facilities to public, which I am planning to do within a month’s time, then it won’t be necessary for people to meet the minister or the MLA,” he said.
