This diligence should always be there

Government employees in Kerala are not inefficient or incompetent. Unfortunately, all the government offices are lagging behind in providing the service on time. Despite many corrective measures, the situation has not changed. Pending files were piling up in departments where people used to depend on the most. The government started the file settlement campaign as a solution to this. In this context, it was decided that the employees would work on Sundays and settle the pending files. It was a rare occurrence that key government offices across the state functioned last Sunday as a beginning to this file settlement campaign. It is commendable that sixty to eighty percent of the employees came to work on Sunday without hesitation. There is no better way to demonstrate commitment to society. Thirty-five thousand files were settled this Sunday in local government institutions from Panchayats to Corporations, where people approach for various matters. This is definitely a record. Thousands of pending files were settled in the Health Department, Medical Education Department, Industries Department and Police Headquarters. On the whole, more than 50,000 pending files have been settled. This achievement is commendable considering that there is three lakh pending files in the entire state. The aim is to work every Sunday till September 30 without taking a holiday and clear the arrears files completely.

Most of the files settled yesterday were the ones that had been pending in panchayats and other local bodies. People approach the local bodies for services such as applications for the LIFE project. Next comes the revenue offices. It is extremely unfortunate that those who come with a request for shelter, assistance for a bedridden patient, urgent needs related to daily life or a road problem, have to wait for months or years. There's no point in ignoring files on things that aren't complicated. However, such a trend persists in many offices.

With the current file settlement drive ending in September, authorities should try to avoid the fresh piling up of files. The office heads should conduct checks weekly or monthly to ensure that there are no pending files under them. Monitoring systems should also function above them.

It is often said that every service provided by government offices is the right of the people. Authorities should take necessary steps to provide this right in time. Ignoring and failing to meet the needs of those who seek services is a denial of civil rights. A large number of files remain pending just because the people are reluctant to protest against it.