I totally agree with D. Babu Paul’s article on the Chief Minister’s interaction programme. I too request the people to avoid such scenes as mentioned in the article published on Manorama.
Each Jana Samparka programme is an ocean of misery. Each person we meet is a wave of sorrow. The most depressing is the sight of sick persons coming to the programme on wheelchairs and stretchers. Sometimes, they would wait in the sun and even in the rain. We are not always able to attend to them as we had planned. This pains us as much as it pains them.
This is the fourth Jana Samparka programme that I conducted. Each programme is a window of experiences. We incorporate changes accordingly. We have made some changes this time too. The most important among the changes are a decision to redress the grievances of bedridden patients without requiring them to come in person to the venue of the programme.
This time, applications were accepted with photographs. These applications are sent to taluk offices and then to village offices. Once deserving applicants are identified, a report is submitted to the district collector and a medical team is sent to the patient to prepare a detailed report. On the day of the Jana Samparka programme, patients’ representatives come and collect the amount as fixed in accordance with the medical report.
In Thiruvananthapuram district, RDO Dr. S. Karthikeyan led a team to visit patients and prepare a report. This young IAS officer, who is also a doctor, visited 130 bedridden patients in a short span of time. Tehsildars and village officers accompanied him. They worked hard for a week to meet the target. The team recommended financial help for 100 of the 130 patients it visited. They have been allotted Rs 59.50 lakh on the day of the programme. The rest of the patients were allotted between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 from the collector’s fund.
Despite all these arrangements, several invalid persons had come to the venue in Thiruvananthpuram. Some of them were brought in ambulances. The reason was the same as speculated by Babu Paul. Returning them would have been cruel.
We wish to avoid this scene in the rest of the districts at least. I request once again: please refrain from brining bedridden patients to the programme.