)
'I owe everything to the people, those who returned me to the legislative assembly ever since 1970,' Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.
Chandy, who is in the eye of a storm over the solar panel scam, was speaking after accepting the UN felicitation on behalf of his office's Mass Contact Programme, which has strengthened direct communication between citizens and the state government by connecting people with decision makers and improving complaint resolution.
'In the course of my 55 years of public life, I owe a great deal of learning from ordinary people and my daily interaction with thousands of ordinary citizens. So people are my books. People are the source of my inspiration, knowledge, and energy and source legitimacy,' he said.
Last month, Chandy had received the prestigious United Nations Public Service Award for his mass contact programme initiative from United Nations Under Secretary General Wu Hongbo. The award was presented at a function held in Bahrain.
'Though I have played a role in initiating the 'mass -contact' programme, the success of the programme was due to the collective efforts of all stake-holders; particularly hundreds of thousands of ordinary people's hope that government is willing to listen and address their issues,' Chandy said.
He said the major learning that he had from the mass- contact programme is that it could generate positive energies within the bureaucracy and governments.
'However, this requires political will and a leadership genuinely committed to listen to the voice of people. Voice and accountability are important to ensure democratic governance,' he said.
The second phase of the mass-contact programme would be launched in September, Chandy said.
'We would make efforts to learn from the earlier experience and to institutionalise the effort as a 'fasttrack' problem solving approach to ensure right to public service to people,' he said.
