Kolkata: As the Mamata Banerjee government believes in direct contact with the people, ‘Janatar Darbar’ which was started earlier in the state is now set to be resumed once again at Chief Minister’s residence from May 21, (Sunday).
If any people have complaints which are serious in nature they can directly meet the Chief Minister to articulate their issues to the highest possible forum of administration in Bengal.
Some officers of the Chief Minister’s office (CMO) will be in charge of ‘Janatar Darbar’ programme. Earlier ‘Janatar Darbar’ was in operation for 8 years before the Covid pandemic broke out. There has been a huge pressure on the CMO at Nabanna and it is often flooded with letters of grievance from the people.
Hence, the state’s top administration felt the need of opening another grievance redress window to cater to more people within a short span of time. Earlier people used to go to the office at Chief Minister’s residence to drop their complaints and the issues were resolved fast.
Sources said that ‘Janatar Darbar’ is going to be reopened at a local club near the residence of the Chief Minister.
A senior IPS officer used to manage the office earlier. From posters, banners, and wall graffiti to digital media, the party uses various means of communication to interact with people.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee always believes in direct contact with the people. She has decentralised governance by conducting administrative review meetings at the block level.
Ahead of the forthcoming Panchayat elections, the ruling Trinamool Congress has started several mass outreach programmes to listen to the people at the grass route level with the most recent one being Trinamool-e Nabajowar”.
In these past few years, the Chief Minister started various projects, sometimes to deliver government services to the public and sometimes to listen to complaints.
On behalf of the party, common people were able to complain about various shortages in projects like ‘Tell Didi’, ‘Didi’s Ambassador’, ‘Didi’s Protection Shield’.
In the same way, the government has also started the “Duare Sarkar” (‘Government at Door) project. All these projects had one thing in common, to reach out to the common people.
‘Janata Durbar’ was launched after Mamata Banerjee came to power. But it stopped during Covid. Anyone can come and report problems or complaints. Common people can also write directly to the Chief Minister. Officials of the administration will also be present there as required.