8 Jun 2012 Kerala Commentary
Why should cell phones go silent in government offices?
P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
If the government wishes to assure uninterrupted service to public waiting in government offices, it is not ordering the mobile phones of employees to be switched off first but the top-most government secretaries and state ministers including the chief minister to be ordered to remain in their seats in their offices on all working days, from 10 am to 5 pm. They are the first to be brought under administrative reforms. The people of Kerala do not need its top executives to roam the state in government cars on all hours of a day, spending government money for petrol and escort, for inaugurating things and holding discussions which easily and safely could have been conducted through tele-conferencing. What else was this tele-conferencing facilities introduced in government for, spending huge amounts from the public treasury? After introducing all these things and spending money on purchasing all the electronic gadgets available in the market, they are still roaming the state in government cars, saying it is all government business, unavoidable. What government business is there which cannot now be conducted from a government office, especially from a top-level government office? Can they give a list so that the people can examine and accept if necessary? Why do government vehicle run at off-office hours throughout the state, with open name boards and covered name boards? Is the government prepared to permit the people of Kerala to stop these vehicles wherever they are at off hours? To make things transparent, government ordered that protective sun films on cars shall be removed immediately. Why are government cars running with darkened glasses still? Why are government cars running with curtains? Curtained travelling cannot be allowed in cars purchased with public money. They perhaps can, if they are purchased with money from their father-in-laws. And now this order on mobile phone silence in government offices? Have the mobile phones of the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, their private Secretaries, Chief Secretary and the Government Secretaries stopped ringing in their offices after issuing this order?