This sahebru lets people know where he is at any given time!

Bengaluru:  “Sahebru illa” (officer not available) is the stock, dismissive answer a common man gets when he approaches any government office. 

Office staff normally tell the visitors that the officer has gone out for meetings or for inspections, just to prevent the public from meeting the officers concerned. 

But here is an officer with a difference. Senior IAS officer P. Manivannan, who is the Chief Project Officer (CPO) at the Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project, has made it a point to let citizens know where he is and allows them to track his movements. It makes life easy for citizens as they know when he is available at his office. 

Mr Manivannan has updated his movement tracker on the official website of the Karnataka State Highways, and has also put up an e-calendar which mentions his schedule. The people are allowed to meet him when he is free. 

Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF) president D.S. Rajshekar told Deccan Chronicle that Mr Manivannan is an officer with exemplary attitude towards citizens. “The BBMP commissioner, who should be available at the head office during the public meeting hours of 3.30 pm and 5 pm, is not available at all. Why should he sit at the Malleswaram IPP office during the public hours? Even corporators should not be allowed to meet him during these times, and only the public should be entertained to resolve their problems,” he said.

Mr Manivannan should be a role model for all public servants, who give lame excuses instead of meeting citizens, he said.