A scientific traffic management plan for the city, phone-in sessions with top bureaucrats for resolving grievances and concerted hardsell of Puducherry’s tourism appeal that rides on its French influence, pretty beaches and spiritual aura are among the immediate priorities of the administration.
Addressing select representatives of the media on Wednesday, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy reiterated their convergence of ideas and a commonality of purpose to do public good and realise the goal of a prosperous Puducherry. “Our idea of governance involves an alignment of speed with skill founded on the core principles of integrity and professionalism,” said Ms. Bedi.
One of the immediate plans is to establish a state-of-the-art traffic management centre in Puducherry under the guidance of Rohit Baluja, president of the Institute of Road Traffic Education. Preliminary talks have already commenced on this front, Ms. Bedi said.
The Lt. Governor, who often expresses her preference to call her office the Sewa Nivas instead of the Raj Nivas, also outlined measures, some of them pioneering initiatives in the realm of the country’s governance, that would bring about higher levels of responsiveness and accountability among the various department chiefs to the public.
Apart from the Chief Secretary Manoj Parida, who will field queries from the public in a phone-in programme on the radio/television, by rotation other department chiefs too would be taking the hot seat to address public grievances.
“We are not expecting overnight change. Some of the ideas that we get started on today may take years to gain fruition…but that would be our contribution for the future,” she said.
The public engagement initiatives will also feature periodic rollout of themes such as safe driving which would be highlighted over month-long campaigns.
The basic intention of the elected Ministry and the Lieutenant Governor is development of Puducherry and promotion of well being of all sections of people, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at an interaction with media persons at the Raj Nivas, Mr. Narayanasamy said that there was no difference of opinion between the Ministry and the Lieutenant Governor since both were inclined towards the development of the Union Territory.
He called upon the official machinery to extend full cooperation to the Government to reach the goal of a prosperous Puducherry and development-oriented Union Territory.
The Chief Minister pointed out that it was common for those who had served in Parliament to return to the State as Chief Minister and vice-versa and said that this was part of a democratic process.
He said that the high command had given him an opportunity to serve as Chief Minister of the UT and appealed to the official machinery, opposition parties and people to extend their cooperation.
Mr. Narayanasamy said that the Government would never do anything that would be injurious to people and issues like eviction of street vendors and anti-encroachment drive would be discussed and sorted out amicably.
The Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister urged the media, by offering critical feedback and helping raise Puducherry’s profile, to be “allies” in the journey in making Puducherry as appealing a tourist destination as Bengaluru or Goa.
