Tech savvy Kerala CM
By Kerala IT News

In his second term as the Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Oommen Chandy has lost no time in adopting the latest technology for better governance. He is using video conferencing (VC) to interact with bureaucrats and aggrieved persons alike, to get a first hand report of the situation.

Yesterday, the CM interacted through video conferencing with a group of expatriates based in Dubai who have been hit by the recent ‘Apple-a-Day’ flat scam in Kochi. Jacob Punnoose IPS, DGP of Kerala Police, was present on the occasion. Earlier, on Monday at the video conference with District Collectors, he reviewed the monsoon related damage in the State and announced compensation for those affected on the basis of his interaction with them. P Prabhakaran IAS, Chief Secretary and Nivedita P Haran IAS, Additional Chief Secretary attended the VC along with him.

The CM’s office described this as a wonderful initiative and a big step forward in direction of e-governance as this would facilitate huge savings in terms of time, energy, travel and hospitality expenses. “This is an important step in better governance and would help in faster decision making and we hope to do this on a regular basis”, an official said. As part of the 100 day programme for the UDF Government in Kerala, the CM had announced a slew of e-governance initiatives including live webcast from his office, whenever he is present there.

The use of video conferencing was made popular by the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Shri N Chandrababu Naidu who used video conferencing to interact with the District Collectors almost on a daily basis.

(In Techgoss syndication arrangement with Keralaitnews.com )