PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday sent out a veiled threat to State government employees calling on them to be punctual and diligent or face the music saying citizens should not face difficulties in dealing with service delivery or availing schemes.
“Government officers will have to face the consequences if anyone complains against them,” Sawant said while speaking to a select group of employees at the launch of a training workshop of the District Mineral Foundation.
He said the State government will soon get a ‘Public Grievance Cell’ going to address the impediments faced by citizens in using services provided by various departments and also in availing of welfare schemes.
The chief minister also exhorted public servants to adopt out-of-the-box working styles and break out from the ‘10 am to 5 pm’ work hour mode.
“We are not public servants only between 10 am to 5 pm. We are 24x7 servants of the public,” Sawant further said, adding that a shift in thinking with a focus on serving the citizen will go a long way in ensuring that real benefit of the government resources spent actually reach the people.
He also said that schemes for the benefit of the public should not get bogged down in red-tapism.
Meanwhile, Sawant also made a fervent appeal to greens and NGOs, who have been approaching the courts to check alleged irregularities, not to obstruct the process of restarting sustainable iron ore mining as it deals with the livelihoods of thousands of people.
Sawant lamented that activities in two mines had been recently stopped at the intervention of the courts.
