Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday announced that he would launch a mass contact campaign in all 14 districts from November 5.
Presenting his government's progress report on his flag-ship 100-day programme here, Mr. Chandy said Kozhikode would be the first venue for the programme. The government had extended the deadline for disposal of pending files in the Secretariat, line departments and districts to September 30. All Ministers were asked to directly supervise the drive.
The Chief Minister recalled that file disposal was listed as one of the major initiatives under a 100-day programme. He said he was not satisfied with the outcome. Of the 1,32,868 pending files in the Secretariat, only 70,080 were cleared, while in the case of line departments, only 5,75,816 of the 10,01,600 files could be disposed of as of August 31. In the districts, 1,37,978 of the 3,74,935 files were cleared.
In a 35-slide power-point presentation, he listed out the various programmes launched and their status. Out of the 107 items taken up for implementation, 101 were executed or were in the process of implementation. He highlighted his government's efforts to infuse transparency in governance as one of the major success stories. Replying to criticisms about Ministers' asset declaration, he said the process was relevant as this would be an annual affair so that people would be aware of the actual status.
On the Attappady issue, the Chief Minister made it clear that all possible steps would be taken to protect the land owned by the tribal people. The government had mooted a major development scheme for the area under a scheme of the Union Agriculture Ministry. In Wayanad, the government had proposed a Rs.1,500-crore project to be implemented on the lines of the Attapaddy Hill Area Development Society.
The government would soon announce its one-year action plan and concurrent to its implementation, it would formulate a 20-year perspective plan—Vision 2030—with popular participation.