ASSAM Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of the Congress has been ruling the state for 13 years. But the Bharatiya Janata Party trounced the ruling Congress in the parliamentary elections. Gogoi’s party is also riven with dissensions. No wonder the Chief Minister has geared up for different activities to make himself and his government visible with the Assembly elections due in 2016 on his mind. He has said that the administration has to come closer to the people and redress their grievances at the doorstep. Gogoi has directed all departments of his government to come up with innovative projects that would be taken care of in next year’s state budget. He has agreed to hold Lok Adalat every month to clear the backlog of work in various departments. Listening to the suggestions of state Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla, the Chief Minister has asked him to direct all district magistrates to launch people’s government with full vigour from January 1, 2015. He has also asked the principal secretary of the state IT department to speed up the launching of e-districts governance with the focus on a public grievances redressal system. The Public Facilitation Centre should be activated to receive public grievances. The Chief Minister would periodically review the status. The Information and Public Relations Secretary will have to boost publicity focusing on the achievements and initiatives in every department.
All this is fine. But the accumulated garbage in Assam’s administration cannot be cleared up in such a short time. A symbolic gesture with a broom cannot sweep away the debris left by flood. The militancy problem still remains a threat. The consequences of the Saradha scam foul the air. The Assam Congress will be up against it in the next Assembly elections with the BJP in the state faring forward.
