SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Some ministers and MLAs would listen to the people from their constituencies in their own way but the programme did not have an organised system. There is also an independent government department called Public Grievances Department, but looking at the crowd for the ‘Prashasan’ initiative, one would wonder what the Grievances Department is up to. The government had created the People’s Charter for the public work to be done in the time-bound manner. The Charter would be hung at the government offices, but neither government servants nor common people realised when this charter disappeared from the walls of the government offices.
Since there has been no charter left anymore, the condition of completing people’s work on time has also naturally gone behind the curtain of time. The government had also made a law to provide time-bound services to the public; however, no one knows what happened next. The Government also introduced the much-hyped GoaOnline.com service with the intention of making all the government services available online for the common public.
The authorities even advertised that lakhs of people using the service, but the crowd seen at the ‘Prashasan’ programme is proof enough that people are still struggling to get their official work done. Instead of considering this as a failure, the government should look at it as an opportunity to serve the people. The government should use the information obtained through this initiative to provide prompt service. The people usually have modest expectations from the government and when they are fulfilled, the government’s image naturally becomes a welfare-oriented one.
The BJP government was under the impression that the commoners do not have any complaints against them as they secured a majority in the last two to three elections and a ‘double-engine’ government is in place. However, their bubble has burst, thanks to ‘Prashasan’. Through the programme, the people mostly presented their personal problems and their works being pending at the government offices. The crucial matter here is that the people do not have any way to know the status of their work and the reason behind the delay. They are not informed properly even when they approach the offices, which puts them off and understandably so. Earlier, the government employees were known as public servants and the term was gradually replaced as government servant.
The belief that they are doing the government’s work slowly took root, which made them forget that they are in fact appointed to carry out the common people’s tasks. In the interim, the political interference increased while granting government jobs, which diverted the loyalty of the employees towards particular politicians instead of the government as a whole. Consequently, the narrative that the common people tolerate things even if they are ignored became more and more normalised. The government employees started to take the public for granted and the response for the ‘Prashasan’ is nothing but the reflection of it all. The programme has brought to the fore lethargic attitude of the government employees.
Lakhs of state government employees in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra held a strike demanding the restoration of the discontinued Old Pension Scheme. However, they did not have the support of the common public at all. In fact, the strike was trolled heavily on social media. The sentiment of people towards government workers is no different in our State either and that is exactly that has been expressed through the ‘Prashasan’ programme. The government should take note of this and take required steps to fasten the administration. Good governance is when people’s work gets done on time. Through the ongoing ‘Prashasan’ meetings, the people of Goa have shown the mirror to the government and the government should take this opportunity to improve its image.
