Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that he himself is the biggest beneficiary of the mass contact programme as it provides him with first-person information on the diverse problems faced by the common people.
Mr. Chandy was addressing Karuthal-2015, his mass contact programme, at the St. Stephen’s Cathedral grounds here on Thursday. He said that each event gave him immense knowledge, which was equivalent to reading a hundred books, on the pangs and problems of the common man.
There were allegations that many a petition that came up at the programme could have easily been addressed by a village officer or tahsildar.
But the fact was that the mass contact programmes were aimed at successfully redressing the common man’s grievances that the village officers and tahsildars could not even consider owing to the legal issues involved, he said.
However, people of Kerala has taken the event to their hearts, he said. Many would have found it difficult to attend the event on Thursday owing to the nationwide motor transport strike.
Those who could not make it could attend another programme to be held at the Collectorate here on May 12. Fresh petitions too would be accepted at the meeting to be chaired by Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, the Chief Minister said.
He said the Chief Minister’s mass contact programme was nothing but a congregation of the masses, people’s representatives, and the official machinery with a mission to redress the problems of the poor and the needy.
Mr. Chandy said that people’s faith in the government was a key factor in a democracy and the event played a key role in instilling popular confidence and trust in the State’s democratic system.
