PATNA: There was an anxious moment at 4, King George Avenue here on Monday morning when a complainant reached the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's office with Black Fungus symptoms.
The weekly ‘Janata Ke Darbar Mein Mukhyamantri' programme was revived by Nitish Kumar after 5 years to hear people's grievances in different districts. Today, he heard grievances of people hit by working of excise, police, revenue departments.
An youth after being screened by the magistrate and entrance of KG Avenue reached the Darbar and sat opposite the chair of the CM. Upon asking about his problem, the youth replied, "Humko Black Fungus ka lakshan hai"(I have symptoms of Black Fungus). He alleged that he was not given treatment in the hospitals. Kumar alerted the security personnel and asked them to take the patient to health department for treatment.
Nitish Kumar was visibly upset when he got complaints about non-payment of salaries to the Aangwadi workers for the last three years and denial of students credit card. He asked the ministers present in the hall to immediately resolve the issues.
One student who had completed his Polytechnic told Kumar that she was not paid her unemployment allowance (Rs 1,000 per month). He directed the principal secretary to arrange payment without delay.
Only those with RTPCR tests were allowed to enter the Janta Darbar. Those coming from remote districts of North Bihar had overnight stay at Begusarai, Vaishali and Biharsharif, where DMs of the districts concerned arranged food and stay before sending the people to CM Darbar on government vehicles. A team of 44 women from Begusarai were brought in a bus.
Nitish Kumar explained he had stopped the weekly Darbar in 2016 after the Bihar Right to Public Grievances Redressal Act, 2016 came into effect and officers of sub-divisional level were appointed only to listen to the grievances of the public. According to the act, grievances were expected to be resolved within 60 days of filing of complaint.
Chief Minister admitted the Act could not meet its purpose fully as many people could not approach the officers. He also said he came to know about the new problems today through talks with the common men.
Janak Ram, mines minister who was also present at the Janata Darbar, said CM's Darbar was necessitated because officers were not attending to the suggestions of even elected representatives.
