Vijayanagar: If you’ve ever struggled to get a pension sorted, a khata corrected, or a site allotted, chief minister DK Shivakumar has a message for you — you won’t have to run to govt offices anymore, officials will come looking for you instead.Launching ‘Prajaseva Abhiyana’, a citizen-connect campaign, from Kudligi hobli in Vijayanagar district Saturday, Shivakumar said the initiative aims to take governance straight to people’s doorsteps. A prajaseva department will be set up to hear grievances directly and offer solutions on the spot or within a fixed timeframe.“The time when people had to approach govt is gone. Now, the govt is coming to the people,” Shivakumar said.The campaign’s slogan sums up the pitch to citizens: “The govt has come to your doorstep, let your cooperation be there for service.”Responding to MP GC Chandrashekhar, who had addressed him as the “Nadina Dore’’ (ruler of the state), the CM said he preferred a humbler title. “I am not Nadina Dore. I should be called a ‘praja sevaka’ (servant of the people). There is no greater happiness for me than that,” he said, adding that the era of kings was over and democracy had arrived.Shivakumar said officials should stop confining themselves to the Vidhana Soudha, district or taluk offices. “Officials should go looking for people,” he said, stressing that not everyone could travel to a DC office, a minister’s office or Vidhana Soudha to get problems solved.The CM also directed every district’s functionaries to visit all taluks on the first and third Saturdays of every month to hear grievances. In the next phase, this will extend to the hobli level, with MLAs expected to visit panchayats — and if they don’t, officials will step in instead.The department will focus on pension issues, bhoomi guarantee, khata, site allotments, the homeless and other govt schemes, Shivakumar said, urging people to submit applications at their panchayats. “Once you submit an application, we will not forget it. The govt will work until a solution is found. If it cannot be resolved, an explanation will be given as to why,” he said.Officials have already received around 50,000 applications, he added. “Where legal help is needed, lawyers will be arranged to represent people in court,’’ he added.Shivakumar recalled visiting the spot in Kudligi, where Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are kept, saying Gandhi’s vision was for administration to reach the last person in society. He also referred to his visit to Basavanna’s resting place, invoking BR Ambedkar’s principle of equality as the guiding idea behind the campaign.
