Revenue Minister R. Ashok on Monday announced that the State government’s ambitious scheme, “Hallige Nadeyiri Jilladhikarigale” (Visit villages, Deputy Commissioners), will be launched on a pilot basis in Udupi district on January 30.
Udupi district administration had shown its commitment by successfully conducting the pilot for distributing old age pension on the doorstep of beneficiaries, which would be launched State-wide by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the Mini Vidhana Soudha at the headquarters of the newly created taluk Kaup, Mr. Ashok directed Deputy Commissioner G. Jagadeesha to formally launch the State-wide pilot of “Hallige Nadeyiri Jilladhikarigale”.
The programme would be held in all districts on the third Saturday of every month.
It will organised on the next day, if such a Saturday happens to be a holiday.
Senior Revenue Department officials, including the Deputy Commissioner, would visit different villages in their districts on the day to address problems being faced by people with regard to revenue matters.
The issues include old age pension, caste certificates, among others, he said.
In addition, senior officials should have their meals at a nearby government institution such as an anganwadi and a BCM hostel.
This would ensure that complaints with regard to food served in such places too were addressed, he said.
Mr. Ashok said that he too would join the officials at some point. He added that the attempt to send senior officials, including Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and Tahsildars, to villages was to ensure that the shortcomings in the functioning of the department were addressed in the next two years.
He noted that the administrative machinery would remain alert once officials know senior officials would be camping in the village for the day and strive to address the issues before hand.
Lauding Mr. Jagadeesha for successfully implementing the pilot for old age pension on the doorsteps of beneficiaries, Mr. Ashok asked him to give a presentation on the project during the scheme’s State-wide launch by the Chief Minister on Wednesday.
First-hand experiences were worth emulating, the Minister said and added that due to such initiatives Udupi ranked first for the 14th month running into department rankings.
