Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil took merely 20 minutes to wind up his much-publicised Public Hearing Session on Monday. Only four complainants turned up at the Public Hearing session, held after a gap of over a month.
Responding to the request of first complainant Khem lal Bansal who complained against Narinder Patyal, SHO, Industrial Phase- I, that he was helping one Kulwinder Singh who was forcibly and illegally taking possession of his workshop, Patil asked the complainant to submit affidavit so that his complaint should be examined thoroughly. In another complaint, MS Sidhu demanded immediate closure of wine shop running in an illegal structure in Sector 42. Regarding this, Patil asked the Deputy Commissioner to examine the complaint as per rules and report.
In another case, Om Pal who took pre-mature retirement requested for re-employment under handicapped category and the Administrator told him that his request would be considered sympathetically.
NK Mattoo in his complaint requested to register a criminal case against his brother Ashish Kumar and his wife as his mother had died after being allegedly hit by Ashish. On this, Patil asked the Inspector General of Police to examine and do the needful as per rules.
The public hearing session continues to evoke poor response in the past few months. This year, the session had witnessed a poor turn out of four complainants each in consecutive four sessions from March to May. In the past, the public hearing sessions held have seen about 12 complainants on an average and the lowest turn out of three complainants was witnessed on November 19, 2012.
The residents are losing their faith in Patil’s session, given the number of decreasing complainants. Besides cancellation and postponement of the sessions, the delay in action on complaints received, is apparently bearing on the fortnightly session.
The sessions are held at UT Secretariat in Sector 9 where the Administrator listens to the grievances of the city residents and all UT senior officials remain present during the session. As a general practice, the Administrator used to hold Public Hearing Session on the first and third Monday of every month.
But due to busy schedule of Patil, the public hearing sessions have been either postponed or cancelled in the past several months creating confusion in the minds of complainants.