Monthly Archives: December 2015
15
14
13
12
11
10
Meet 9 govt employees who remained honest despite odds
Coimbatore :
Dressed in white and white, G Jesuganesan, a village assistant at Ganapathy, rides on his bicycle every day to collect agricultural tax in the area. If the fee is Rs 4 and a farmer pays him Rs 5, he will not return home until he returns the balance Re 1 to the farmer.
Farmers of Chinnavedampatti and Ganapathy in Coimbatore district say they have never seen such an honest and sincere employee. “His heart and mind is as white as his clothes. We have not seen an officer like him,” said B Sundaram, a farmer at Chinnavedampatti.
The Coimbatore unit of the Anti-Corruption Movement honoured Jesuganesan on Saturday. Jesuganesan, who hails from a humble family, said he was delighted to receive the award of an honest officer.
Eight other honest officials working in various government departments in Coimbatore were also felicitated.
Though these officials have done immense service to the public, they had to face their share of challenges to stay on the path of honesty.
P Jayanthi, an assistant executive engineer with the public works department (PWD), was constantly ridiculed for being a straight officer. She had even contemplated on quitting her job.
“My colleagues kept telling me that what change I could bring about by not taking bribe. But in my 33 years of service, I can proudly say that I have been part of several projects which we have completed without heeding to anyone’s personal requests,” said Jayanthi.
She added that when officials were straight forward, one could expect better quality of work from the contractors as they would listen to them.
Many of these officials took a firm decision to help people.
On the tenth day after K K Gopal joined as the block development officer of Annur village panchayat, residents staged a road roko stating that they were not given basic amenities. He checked the records and spoke to the panchayat president asking him to take action to help the villagers.
When the panchayat president did not pay any heed to the public requests, Gopal said he would seek the collector’s intervention and use Section 205 of the Panchayat Act making him the special officer.
“The panchayat president immediately took steps to ensure that the residents received water and other amenities,” said Gopal.
“I think it’s a person’s work and character that defines them and once we ensure that we do not do anything wrong, people begin to respect us and our work,” he added.
S Balaji, an income tax officer who received the award, said: “People are defined by their choices, and we are all proud we made the right ones. Moreover, we were also lucky to have families who supported our decisions and were content with what they received.”
Apart from them, T Murugan,(an assistant engineer with Tangedco, Mettupalayam), N Muthuchami (an assistant treasury officer), P Kalimuthu (a lineman with Tangedco, Kinathukidavu) K R Deepa, (an income tax officer) and Prof P Kanagaraj of the Government Arts and Science College here were also felicitated.
City police commissioner, A Amalraj who gave away the awards, said every government official faced challenges and problems but those who overcame them with integrity were always sought after.
“The responsibility of both — the person who gives the bribe and the one who receives it — is equal,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / by Komal Gautham, TNN / December 12th, 2015
IIT Madras helps KoPT to slash dredging costs by Rs.250 crore
The Kolkata Port Trust may implement a technology that will help it save Rs.250 crore annually through reduced dredging costs, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said.
Dredging costs at the country’s only riverine port is likely to get reduced from around Rs.400 crore to around Rs.150 crore due to a new process of dredging suggested by the IIT-Madras on the basis of recommendations made by the Boston Consulting Group. The two port systems of KoPT at Kolkata and Haldia have a draft of around 7.5 metres.
Boston Consulting, on the basis of a Ministry mandate, had made 120 recommendations on improving the performance of all the major Indian ports. “About 20 suggestions are being implemented and the rest would be put in place in two years,” Mr Gadkari said adding that it is not possible to improve exports without good ports.
“For this government, waterways had the highest priority in the logistics segment followed by railways and roadways.” Against the previous government’s pace of laying two km of roads daily, now 18 km of roadways were being laid, he said. The target is to increase it to 30 km a day by March 2016. The Minister also said that within five years, 50 lakh jobs are expected to be generated by the transport sector, which would contribute two per cent to the GDP.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business / by Special Correspondent / Kolkata – December 02nd, 2015
Jawahar Bal Bhavan members felicitated
A seven-member team of the Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Namakkal, won the first place in the Bommalattam dance event at the national level Children’s Cultural Festival held at New Delhi recently.
Events
The members participated in two events – Panchayat Raj awareness street play and Bommalattam folk dance. The team won the second place in the street play event.
The competitions were held on the themes that centred rural development.
District Collector V. Dakshinamoorthy felicitated the members.
M. Thillai Sivakumar, Project Officer, Namakkal District Jawahar Bal Bhavan, was present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Namakkal – December 07th, 2015