The suicide note, written by Sajeevan, a 57-year-old fisherman from Ernakulam, points to one of the millions of examples of denial of service in government offices. Sajeevan, who had been living with his family in a house on four cents of his land, had to mortgage his house and property to pay off existing debts. Upon approaching the bank, he came to know that the bank could not provide the loan as his land was shown as a paddy field in the revenue records. Following this, he approached various offices to obtain a land conversion certificate. He had submitted an application to the Fort Kochi RDO office on February 18 last year. However, no action was taken even after one year. Sajeevan committed suicide after getting exhausted from visiting various government offices several times.

A report received by the District Collector from the concerned RDO said that all necessary actions had been taken as per law on Sajeevan's application. People are well aware of what is meant by 'as per law' in government language. Hence, the RDO's report to the Collector can only be seen as an attempt to save itself from the crisis. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan often reminds us that there are tears of the common man behind every application that reaches the government offices and that employees should try to find a solution to each application without much delay. However, many of the revenue offices in the state have grown into anti-human workplaces where corruption and mismanagement have grown. The number of people who have lost their lives due to denial of services of revenue offices is not less in the state.

Revenue Minister K Rajan has directed the officials to investigate and report on the circumstances under which Sajeevan, a fisherman, committed suicide. This is just a normal process that takes place whenever such tragic incidents happen. The history of the Fort Kochi Revenue Divisional Office, where Sajeevan submitted the application, is known all over the state. It has been only a few months since 25 officials were transferred in one go following corruption and mismanagement.

It is said that more than 20,000 applications related to land conversion are pending before the Fort Kochi RDO. About 1.5 lakh applications are pending across the state. If the land is less than 25 cents, it can be converted free of charge. Earlier, people had to pay a fee for this. Sajeevan was forced to visit government houses several times for the conversion of his 4 cents of land. According to the report submitted by the RDO to the Collector, Sajeevan's application was kept aside as he did not respond to the notice asking him to pay the fees. How could this official not know that the government had issued a notification waiving the fee? Wasn't this something that could be done without complicating things? The life of the Sajeevan could have been saved if the RDO had taken a humane approach.

There were around nine hectares of fields in Kerala three decades ago. Now, this has shrunk to two or two and a half hectares. Several fields are being converted for the sake of new housing as families get divided. Fields are being converted not only for housing but also for other ventures. Several people face difficulties as the converted land remains as fields on the revenue records. In case of granting permission for conversion of such land, the procedures should be simplified and the applicants should be assisted. They can be settled by forming special committees in each village to inspect the applications. Arrangements can also be made to settle applications on schedule. Exploitation by intermediaries will also increase as the decision on applications is delayed indefinitely. Even if the land is converted, the taluk offices should intervene to complete the formalities. Steps should be taken to revamp how such offices operate to provide better service to the people.

Special cells can be set up immediately in the Revenue Department to process pending land conversion applications in a timely manner. Although it is said that service is not a charity but the right of the people, applicants are still forced to bow their heads before the officials. The situation must change. Even after the enactment of the Right to Service Act, it is not fair for people to have to visit government offices for several years to get their things done. There should not be a situation where people like Sajeevan have to give up their lives to make the revenue offices people-friendly.