Abu Dhabi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy feels he has struck the right chords among his people through a mass contact programme. He believes the programme has done wonders and would help him and his party change the state’s norm of alternatively electing the United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) every five years.
Chandy says the mass contact programmes held in districts were aimed to understand the issues faced by the people and hurdles faced by the officials in solving these issues because of the legal complications.
“We try to resolve a majority of the applications received through this programme as a result of my direct interaction and that has been a huge success,” said Chandy, who also has weathered some controversies since taking charge in 2011, In an exclusive interview with Gulf News he speaks of the challenges facing his government.
Excerpts:
Question. You have been travelling extensively to all constituencies and directly interacting with the people. At the same time, according to the former CM’s whip, it is the job of a village officer, not of a chief minister. How do you react to this remark with your mass contact programme?
Answer: My mass contact programme is linked to the government’s approach to governance, which is development and care. Before conducting the programme, I hold meetings in each district with officials, the minister in-charge of the district and people’s representatives about the issues faced by the people. The meetings also consider the general requirements of the district in order to provide redressal.
During the programme, solutions to issues faced by the district are announced, and I meet people who are facing the most difficult issues that cannot be solved satisfactorily because of limitations in existing laws. Not even a single problem is left unattended and I don’t think there is any harm in doing so, as long as the people’s issues are solved.
For example, I received 12,114 applications/petitions for the programme that was to be held in Kottayam on May 25. Of these, 9,314 have been resolved. The rest are under process, which needs further scrutiny and administrative decision.
Q. So you would like to say you have achieved the goals you have set when you started of this programme?
A. Yes, it certainly has. Apart from solving problems directly by using special powers as the chief minister, it has also provided me a platform to understand the issues faced by the people and the need for making amendments in existing laws. For example, after the first round of mass contact programme held in 2011, the government issued 45 new orders to amend existing laws.
It is the aim of the government to provide immediate relief to people facing issues, and hence government orders are issued within days of the mass contact programme.
For example, during the third phase of programme, the legal clause that mandates a maximum relief of Rs200,000 (Dh11,568) provided for haemophilia patients has been amended to make it lifetime free treatment and medicines. These types of decisions need collective action; officials alone cannot do it.
Q. What are the complaints you mainly come across and did you receive anything from people living abroad?
A. Many of these complaints were related to issues such as birth and death certificates, relief required for people who are suffering from life-threatening diseases, loan-repayment related issues etc, that can be considered as the ones that can be dealt with at a village-officer level.
The difference is that these issues cannot be solved unless high-level intervention is made available. For example, one of the issues that came up before me is an application regarding an error in the birth certificate of a woman who has been rejected a visa to work in Canada because the birth certificate had a typo error. Instead of ticking the female column, they ticked the male column and the visa was rejected.
The lady who is in her 40s now, and has a 16-year-old daughter, approached me because none of the officials could solve her problem and correct the error in the original birth certificate. Even with my intervention as the Chief Minister, it took some time.
Q. There are so many expat Keralites in the GCC. How do you think they can be made a part of this programme. Will you be able to directly address some of their problems?
A. I have conducted mass contact programme outside Kerala whenever I could undertake a visit to understand the problems of Malayalees living in the area. I have conducted a programme in Sharjah, UAE in 2013 and in New Delhi in 2012.
There are many welfare programmes for non-resident Keralites (NRKs) who are working abroad and also in other states. The government has brought in a legislation, NRK Welfare Act-2007, to safeguard the interest of NRKs.
The government has formed a special department called Non-Resident Keralite Affairs Department (Norka) in 1996 to ensure the welfare of people who work in other parts of India and abroad. Norka-Roots, the field agency of the department has initiated various welfare schemes for BPL-NRKs such as funds that cater to the requirements of NRIs such as marriage of their children, medical expenses, funeral expenses and so on.
There are also schemes that provide financial assistance to repatriate the mortal remains of an NRK who expires outside Kerala or India. The government has issued ID cards for all the NRKs and has initiated the creation of a global database so that projects could be initiated for the rehabilitation of people who lose jobs as part of the global recession.
There are schemes to provide legal assistance and also to reskill, upskill the people who are working outside Kerala. The election laws have been amended to provide voting rights to NRKs working in other countries from this year onwards.
Q. So do you expect any change to the legacy of alternatively electing UDF and LDF in this election? If yes, could you please specify five important fulfilments of your promises to the common man which gives you the confidence to say YES.
A. The people of the state have responded very well to the ‘development and care’ approach of the government that gives equal importance to alleviating the problems of the people and at the same time emphasising on development initiatives. The economic growth rate of Kerala has improved consistently since 2012 and is now 15.35 per cent, which is higher than the national growth rate of 11.54 per cent.
Some of the major development projects initiated by the state include Kochi-metro rail project, Smart City in Kochi, the airport in Kannur, initiation of work in Vizhinjam project. We have been able to change the perception of the state from a ‘strike-friendly’ state to an ‘investor-friendly’ one. We have abolished some of the existing malpractices in the state such as nokku-kooli (the practice of paying fee to labour unions without getting any service from them) in key districts such as Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
I believe that the government has been able to provide the best governance to the people during its tenure. We have ensured transparency and 24/7 availability to all the people in the state.
Q. Suppose UDF is given the mandate by the electoral, what will be your utmost priority programme for the common people?
A. The government will continue with the development programmes initiated for the state during the last four years. We will ensure that the people of Kerala get the best of economic growth and opportunities; best prospects in health care, education and will do everything to ensure high quality of living standards.
Project e-district is a landmark governance project in India — with all 14 districts in Kerala covered. We are a government that is available 24/7 and we ensure the highest standards of transparency to the people.
Q. During this period, the government has faced many allegations of corruption in various departments. Do you take these things with a pinch of salt and move ahead or has that affected you, at times?
A. The government took charge on May 13, 2011 with a narrow majority of two seats and there have been predictions that it will not complete even a year.
There were allegations, and investigations have been declared on each of these. It is part of a democratic process to raise allegations and it is the duty of the government to respect the emotions behind the charges and ensure that investigations have been declared on each of these. It should be noted that none of these allegations could be proved. It should also be noted there was no allegation regarding misappropriation of government funds or government machinery.
The government is devoted to the cause of ensuring development in all fields of life and we have been relentlessly pursuing this path since 2011.
Q. When you face the next assembly election, obviously, it would be your efforts to convince the public what good things your government has done for them. Along with that, don’t you think people are eager to know about the conspirators behind the T P Murder? What is the status of Tomy Thachankary’s case? What really happened in the case of Malabar Cements vis-a-vis Saseendran and his children? Is that playing on your mind?
A. The government’s approach on all the cases has been the same. We facilitate investigative agencies to complete a free and fair investigation process in the shortest possible time. All I can say is we have to allow the law to decide its course.
Q. How do you sum up your opposition now, with you having done so much for change?
A. I’m confident that the people of Kerala will give me another term to continue the ‘development and care’ agenda of our government. The opposition has not been able to impress the people of the state so far.
We have tangible results to show our people in the areas of overall GDP growth, progress in agriculture, education and health care. Also, the overall boost to entrepreneurship and start-ups has Kerala in the global map of technology with our IT parks, start-up villages, etc. These all add to the future potential of Kerala as one of the most progressive states in India. All the allegations made by the LDF have miserably failed. They are isolated from the people. I’m sure people have confidence in us and definitely, we will come back.
Q. Are you in good relations with BJP government at the centre with respect to the development of Kerala?
A. Our approach has always been to cooperate with the central government to ensure the best interests of the state. The centre has so far reciprocated our interest and has helped us while we dealt with problems of war-related issues in West Asia, and later to get people back from Nepal after a massive earthquake hit the country.
But we are not in agreement with the communal agenda of the BJP and their move to give undue advantage to corporates at the expense of the common man.
Mass contact programme:
The following are the details about the programme:
- First phase: 2011. Total no: of complaints: 545,000. Total no: of complaints resolved: 297,000. Total amount distributed as relief: Rs208,2 million.
- Second phase: 2013 (implantation was completely digital). Total no: of complaints: 321,000. Total no: of complaints resolved: 316,000. Total Amount distributed as relief: Rs551.0 million.
- Third phase: 2015. Started in April 20, 2015 and will continue till June 2015
