Join Facebook for public, district magistrate to officials

LUCKNOW - The district magistrate of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday asked senior government officials to join popular networking site Facebook so that they are easily accessible to public.

Mukesh Meshram directed additional district magistrates, sub-divisional magistrates and additional city magistrates to join Facebook after opening an account on the site on behalf of the Kanpur district administration.

“I have clearly conveyed my instructions to all the senior officials of the district administration to open an account separately at the earliest and then join the account that I have created in the name of Kanpur District Administration,” Meshram told IANS on phone from Kanpur, some 80 km from Lucknow.

“I believe the move will not only help the public, but will also serve as an efficient communication medium among officials of the government departments.”

“On one hand, the public will get easy access to officials for airing their grievances, at the same time we would also be able to track the activities being undertaken by different government agencies so that the officials from various departments can co-ordinate to achieve the ultimate goal of serving the public,” he said.

In the first phase, the district administration officials will join Facebook and later officials from government hospitals, civic agencies and urban development departments will create their accounts.

“From complaints related to poor roads, improper sanitation, garbage disposal and other civic problems all can be posted on the account. Depending upon the nature of the complaints, they will be sorted and then forwarded to the department concerned,” said Meshram.

“The officials of a particular department will also be required to update the district administration by sending alerts on the account of the Kanpur district administration. This would surely be liked by the public as they would also be able to track their complaints. In simpler terms, it would facilitate transparency in the functioning of government officials,” he said.

Kanpur residents have hailed the initiative taken by Meshram. “The move is really praiseworthy. I believe that to a considerable extent it would counter the delay in getting yourself heard by the top administration,” Abhai Singh, a post-graduate student and resident of Gwaltoli area, told IANS.

Echoing similar views, 67-year-old retired teacher Ganpati Tripathi said: “The step would immensely help those like me, who cannot make rounds of government offices due to age-factor.”