THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Serpentine queues, crowded dais, khadi-clad Congressmen in hundreds and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy caught in the middle of the frenzy. The mass contact programme of the Chief Minister held here on Thursday set a record of sorts with the Chief Minister hearing the complaints from the public for around 15 hours from 9.30 a.m. on Thursday till 12.30 a.m. on Friday. In terms of the total number of complaints and duration, the programme held in the capital beat the first round held in Kozhikode last week. Braving the morning sun, thousands of people poured into the venue at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium expecting a one-minute solution to their woes. The registration of the programme began at 8.30 a.m.and it stretched to very late night till the last complaint was disposed. Till the filing of this report, the Chief Minister received more than 30,000 complaints of which around 24,500 were dealt with. It was by granting a financial aid of Rs 75,000 to Suresh, a coconut-climber who met with an accident, that the Chief Minister inaugurated the mass contact programme. Speaking to mediapersons before he began interaction with the public, Oommen Chandy said that the programme was intended to bridge the gap between the public and the government departments.Various departments, around 56 of them, had put up stalls at the venue. The complaints, as per their nature and need, were directed to the departments. KSEB, KSRTC, Education, Civil Supplies and Revenue department were among those who had stalls. The Chief Minister granted a cheque of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of the victims of the accident when an ambulance had caught fire at Pangode here. The kin of an accident victim at Venjaramoodu were granted Rs 1 lakh compensation. Two people were granted tri-cycles and financial aid was approved for the kin of 55 disabled persons. Though the majority of complainants had come seeking financial aid for treatment, complaints related to title deeds, transfers, converting APL ration cards to BPL, housing and pensions also came up at the mass contact programme. The District Akshaya Centre updated the disposed complaints on a projector screen placed in front of the dais while the IT team in the CM’s office streamed live the mass contact programme for the first time. Transport Minister V S Sivakumar, Shashi Tharoor MP, District Collector M Nandakumar, M A Vaheed MLA and many UDF councillors in the City Corporation were present at the venue throughout the programme while many other elected representatives including K Muraleedharan MLA, Varkala Kahar MLA and others also paid visits.Rs 60 LAKH DISBURSEDA total of Rs 60 lakh was disbursed by way of cheque as assistance to different people who attended the programme. Around 7,400 applications were received for conversion of ration cards from APL to BPL category. While 12 persons were given new ration cards at the programme venue, decision was taken on 440 applications. A total of 24 students belonging to the SC/ST categories were given free laptops. Disability pension was sanctioned to 740 persons. Twenty persons were sanctioned Rs 1 lakh each for starting self-employment ventures and another 30 will be given Rs 1 lakh each through the lead bank. A sum of Rs 3 lakh was distributed to 11 persons who suffered injuries in attacks of wild animals. A sum of 1 lakh each was distributed for modernisation of 15 cattle farms. Around 7,840 applications were received on land-related issues, including title deeds, boundary disputes and pokkuvaravu. The departments concerned have been directed to settle the complaints within two weeks.
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