Sakala scheme: Mandya on top and Bengaluru at the bottom citizen services guarantee
Bengaluru, Nov 30: An internal assessment of the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens called 'Sakala' has put Mandya on the top while Bengaluru Urban stood last among the districts in providing services to people within the stipulated time.
Launched in April 2012, there are presently 1025 services related to 98 departments guaranteed under the Sakala scheme which are provided to the applicants within the time limit.
Eight years after the launch of the scheme, the Sakala department carried out the assessment of its performance.
The assessment revealed that 22.92 crore applications were received since the launch of the scheme, out of which 22.85 crore applications were disposed of.
Based on the number of applications received and disposed of, the department came out with the ranking.
Announcing the ranking, Karnataka Minister for Sakala, S Suresh Kumar told reporters on Monday that Mandya, Chikkamagaluru and Chikkaballapura are among the top three districts in providing services under the Sakala scheme within the time limit.
On the other hand, Bengaluru urban, Bidar and Raichur are among the least ranked districts in providing services.
"This assessment provides an opportunity to the respective districts to improve their citizen-oriented services," Kumar, who also holds the primary and secondary education portfolio, said.
The rankings were announced as the state launched the Sakala week during which period, the departments will have to create awareness among masses.
The Minister cited three reasons for the poor performance of Sakala, which are not accepting the applications, rejection of applications and delay in providing the service.
He said people do not know that there are appellants in each department where people can approach and appeal against the rejection and delay in providing services.
Kumar directed the deputy commissioners of the district to conduct a meeting of the Sakala Coordination Committees to analyse the performance of Sakala scheme.
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Three central armed police force personnel suspended for playing carrom in TMC office
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission suspended three central armed police force personnel after a purported video went viral showing them playing carrom inside a Trinamool Congress (TMC) office at Suri in West Bengal's Birbhum district, a senior official said on Sunday.
A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the matter, he said.
"As of now, these three personnel have been removed from poll duty. We have initiated an inquiry into the incident. The authenticity of the video recording is being checked thoroughly," the poll body official said.
The disciplinary action was triggered by a purported video which went viral on Saturday, showing one personnel playing carrom with three local youths, another standing, and a third seated on a chair inside the TMC office in Suri.
PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
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This was the second such disciplinary action taken against the central forces deployed in Bengal in the run up to the to the state elections by the poll body in four days for violating commission's guidelines.
On March 25, the EC transferred seven paramilitary personnel deployed on election duty in Murshidabad district out of the state for allegedly attending an iftar party in violation of guidelines.
The jawans, along with two policemen, had allegedly attended an Iftar on March 8 hosted by local TMC leader Samim Sheikh, husband of Aliara Bibi, pradhan of Nimtita gram panchayat in the Samsergunj area of Murshidabad.
Responding to the latest development in Suri, BJP candidate for the segment, Jagannath Chatterjee, condemned the incident, calling it "extremely reprehensible and disappointing."
"It is unclear how and where the central forces are being deployed. If the local administration or police had a role in this carrom game, strict action should be taken against them as well," Chatterjee said.
Congress Birbhum district president Sanjay Adhikari expressed similar concern, saying, "Playing carrom is not a crime, but doing so inside a political party's office is inappropriate."
Responding to the controversy, TMC leader of Birbhum district Malay Mukherjee said, "Those who were working here understand that casually interacting with TMC is not a crime. That is probably why they were talking and playing carrom."
The EC had previously issued directives prohibiting the deployed CAPF from accepting any form of hospitality or participating in social and private gatherings during poll duty while putting in place strict monitoring mechanisms, including GPS tracking and body cameras, to oversee movement and activities of the forces.
