CM KCR Rejects Praja Darbars, Emphasizes Ground-Level Solutions, says KTR

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao does not subscribe to the idea of holding praja darbars as he believes that if any citizen has to go meet the Chief Minister for solution to simple grievances, it actions indicates a broken administration, minister K.T. Rama Rao explained on Saturday. Chandrashekar Rao would much rather that the issues be dealt with at the appropriate levels.

Speaking at an interactive session with GHMC officials and staff as part of the government’s ‘Good Governance Day,’, Rama Rao said his comments might seem “controversial but I need to share with you. Some people keep saying the Chief Minister should hold praja darbars and meet common people. So once we asked him about this and that people keep wanting the Praja Darbars. Since you keep meeting MLAs and officials, why not also meet people who want to meet with you?”

Rama Rao said the Chief Minister was very clear in his response. “Starting from me, there are some 6.5 lakh government servants, and then there are all the elected representatives from sarpanchs to MLAs. If someone thinks that they have to approach me for a pension, or a ration card, or requesting a tap connection, or a drain, or if some problem related to a passbook, then it means that there are some deficiencies in the entire system,” Rama Rao recollected.

Narrating what the Chief Minister said, Rama Rao added: “This also means that the system is not working well, he told us. The Chief Minister said problems that can be attended to and solved at the ground level or at different levels must be attended to where they need to be addressed. Only if a problem is complicated or cannot be addressed by officials and needs to be decided by the Cabinet or Chief Minister should it come to me.”

“The praja darbars are for people who want to show off that they are doing something and to claim that he or she is a person of the people but they are not something that actually result in any good productivity on part of the administration the Chief Minister told us,” Rama Rao added.