Never ever the visit to Rayagada of a senior bureaucrat was so glorified as in case of V Karthikeyan Pandian, the man behind the Chief Minister’s 5-T mantra.
Up to the last minute, scribes were also unaware of Pandian’s visit. It seemed his move was kept top secret with necessary instruction to the district administration. Accompanied by Principal Advisor to State Government R Balakrishnan, National Health Mission Director Shalini Pandit, district level senior officers including Collector, SP, ADM, PD-DRDA, CDMO, etc, Pandian, the most powerful bureaucrat having close proximity to the power corridor of CM Patnaik and now Secretary to Chief Minister, Transformation and Initiatives (5T), made a surprise visit to the district headquarters hospital(DHH) on Thursday to review “Mo Sarkar” initiative.
During his visit, the DHH was alert with last minute cleaning of the surroundings and the mega building. The staff attendance was 100 percent. There were still lapses like water oozing out from AC, lack of amenities for attendants of the patients, etc, which were noted out by Pandian and necessary instructions were issued to concerned authorities.
Both Pandian and Pandit briefly interacted with patients and their attendants regarding the health facilities, behavior of health staff, related amenities, etc. Lack of doctors and other medical staff alongwith health infrastructure in Kashipur was pointed out to him.
Interestingly enough, though he had brief review with the district officials, he did not deliver any press briefings, may be to keep sanctity of the surprise visit.
“It is certainly a noble step by the Government to monitor the service delivery mechanisms in DHH, RTO offices, where there is rampant corruption. Visit by super bureaucrats to these places confirms the extent of corruption and lack of facilities. This also opens up the pandora's box of people’s woes and agonies at ground zero," said Pradip Das, a senior advocate of the district.
Likewise, all the tehsil offices of the district need to be scrutinised where there are scores of irregularities. These visits must not be one shot and be done on a sustained basis or else it will have boomerang effect by denigration of 5Ts, he added.